.

Prevent the things you are doing and you are halfway there. F.M. Alexander

Some way into a course of lessons students commonly make an anxious inquiry about what progress they are making.

As our underlying coordination begins to change, it still feels as normal a part of us as our coordination before the start of the lessons. The initial lightness that many students feel with their first lessons is in contrast to the heaviness they brought to those first lessons and that initial lightness becomes part of the normal coordination and is no longer so obvious. Different pains and symptoms gradually recede but these symptoms of misuse are much more obvious in their presence than in their absence and it is only by reflecting back that we become aware of their absence.

When I began teaching the technique some of my students told me about waking up in the night with pain in the arms and shoulders. It was only then that I remembered that I regularly used to wake in the night with pins and needles in one or other of my arms, depending on which side I was sleeping. Somewhere along the way this had stopped, but I could not pinpoint the time when thishad ceased.

However, much more important than a change in symptoms is a reorientation in our awareness and thinking. There comes a point in the practice when we are suddenly “stuck with” the Alexander Technique. What I mean by "stuck with" is that there comes a point we can no longer be unaware both that and how we are misusing ourselves. This can be very annoying, as we begin to discover that we are constantly bringing some level of extra tension and compression into all our daily activities. This tension and compression, much or which was formerly unconscious, now begins to come to the forefront of our consciousness.

At this stage we are impelled to make a change, to undo this tension and compression. It is only then that we start to seriously apply for ourselves the thinking and awareness in which the technique trains us – a process which deepens and develops over time. And half of this process of change is the emphasis on “undoing” instead of “doing” something.This is deeply counter-intuitive process as people want to go directly towards doing something to create a change. But initially this doing is based on their old habitual and unconscious coordination and people simply stiffen themselves as they try to do something different.

Just one or two lessons with a teacher skilled in the use of his or her hands can connect into the nervous system in a way which begins to loosen the underlying misuse, and to result in a dramatic reduction in pain or other symptoms. It is possible to use such lessons as a therapy but the real progress in the technique is when students start to develop the skills to release underlying holding patterns and reactions and then to move actively out of those patterns into openness and expansion.

This begins to alter the underlying neurological patterning and fasial constrictions and is an ongoing process whereby the habitual postural, movement patterns, which over time create ever-increasing limitations and restrictions are conditioned so that we move towards more ease and freedom, a process which can continue over many years, and a process which helps to counteract many of the symptoms and infirmities commonly ascribed to aging.

Here is case study of a course of lessons with a Parkinson's Disease patient, from Marigold Smith, an Alexander Technique teacher from Studio Evolving at Healesville, Victoria. She published this in 2009 and when I noticed that this was no longer on her web-site I asked Marigold for permission to publish it here.

There are numerous. anecdotal accounts of the effectiveness of the Alexander Technique in dealing with the symptoms of Parkinson's Disease. And there are also a very few small scientific research papers with promising results, but as drug companies can't make any money out of non-drug interventions, there is so far no funding for large double-blind clinical trials.I have put some links to some links to Youtube videos and scientific papers at the bottom of this case-study.

David Moore

Parkinson's Disease - A Case Study

Introducing Valma Scott

Val was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease over 10 years ago. She is 76 years of age and married to child hood sweetheart, Jim for 60 years. They have 6 children including 2 sets of twins and now 17 grandchildren.

I have been working with Val since November last Year. I feel privileged and honored getting to know Val and her remarkable partner Jim. They wish to share their journey with the Alexander Technique and hope their experience will inspire other people with Parkinson’s disease to explore the Technique for themselves.

Jim found the English Alexander Technique and Parkinson’s disease studyon the Internet, and with Val decided to investigate the Technique. Val’s well-being and quality of life was their main concern They live in Alexandra in country Victoria and I was the nearest Alexander Technique teacher, a good 100 kilometers away in Healesville.

A Typical Day

Val is confined to a wheel chair unable to stand, dependent on Jims support. She is hoisted by crane from bed to chair. Val had both knees replaced over 30 years ago and bears horrific scars and no kneecaps. Riding a bike and walking until a few years ago, her knees finally were so painful she ground to a stop. Further surgery is impossible because of the nervous disability bought about with the Parkinson symptoms. In one sense Val’s problem with her knees is unrelated to Parkinson’s disease, but in another it is entirely relevant to the issues she faces. When people have additional problems to their Parkinson’s symptoms these are still part of the ‘whole person’s’ experience of daily life.

A usual day in Val and Jim’s life revolves around the rituals of the hoist. With Jim lifting or hoisting Val from bed to bath or to toilet or wheel chair, the tasks can take a whole day. Each day depends on her symptoms of nervousness, shakes, depression, motivation and co-operation. Television doesn’t interest her, reading she finds difficult, the radio is O.K. particularly music. She has an amazingly date retentive memory of family events, every family members birthday and names. On a ‘bad day’ her short-term memory is affected, causing panic, anxiety, dependency, clinging and insecurity. From one day to the next Val’s experience varies greatly.

Initial Presentation

When I first met Val she presented with these problems:

•Bladder - incontinency

•Bowel problems - constipated

•Collapsed head and neck

•Difficulty Speaking

•Difficulty swallowing

•Fear of falling

•Tremors

•Poor circulation in feet (cold, discolored, poor feeling)

•Cannot stand - legs fixed in one direction

Introduction

The following is a summary of of Valma's progress derived from records kept after each visit . My first Alexander lesson with Val was on November 20th 2003. Lessons have been maintained on a weekly basis with some short breaks of two to three weeks during holidays etc. The work involves mainly table work which has extended to more free work on the floor and on a chair over a period of months. The notes below are presented as a weekly report or monthly summary depending on Val's progress.

Summary of Progress

November - December 2003

Started with table work with books under her head and bolsters under legs. After the first lesson we saw some immediate changes - less shakes, speaking more freely but could only open legs a little. Val said she felt relaxed and sleepy and slept well that night. At the end of November she looked more upright in the chair and calmer Started giving directions to help her short shallow breathing. More movement in left leg.

December - January 2004

Positive changes include less neck restriction / speaking more freely - lucid humor, teasing and joking - calmer and less shaking. Val said she felt relaxed and sleepy. Jim was going to provide a firm board on Val's bed to try semi-supine once a day.

Third Visit

Val more upright, smiling and welcoming with a kiss. Laid flatter on the table - easier to help neck / head / jaw. Can now find room to put my hands around her neck. Jim has noticed change in bowel and bladder control. When I put my hands on Val her breathing became easier and the shakes go. Tried a pillow between her legs to help spacing between legs - to change pattern.

Fourth Visit

Jim thinks Val's skin, feet and legs feel different - feet have better colour, skin more elastic texture. Val seems wider and longer on the table -moving feet and toes herself, but lack co-ordination and control - better on one side.

Fifth Visit

Val loves being touched down legs from hip to each toe. Discussed Home Maintenance with Jim. Her head position at home in the wheelchair and in the car was important - explained the effect of 'collapse' on breathing and speech. Jim will try to change pillow height and support in her bed.

Sixth Visit

Val able to put feet flat on the table at hip width apart with a pillow spacing. Val asks "when will she be walking".

Three week break. Val continued with her home self maintenance program of semi-supine, pillow changes and exercises with pillow between legs. Upon her return for the seventh visit her breathing had improved and was able to move her legs independently. Mobility improved being able to put hands on her knees and rotate her knees together and away by herself. Val used to love riding her bicycle so we played with her pedaling her feet into my hands.

February 2004

Val's back is stronger and her neck tone improved. She sits straighter with little or no support. Bladder control better and only misses if she sleeps in.

March 2004

Val is very bright and talkative. Jim reported after a family visit at the weekend all had noticed changes in her. Muscle tone improved - now soft and less squidgy. Skin feels beautiful and has good colour Feet not blue and are more sensitive. Losing weight - less fluid retention.

Doesn't need Ventalin anymore.

April 2004

Val bright and lively. Sat her upright on the table with legs over side - first supported, then free. (Which showed her back was strong, her balance good and she was not afraid of falling forward). Introduced the yoga "bridge" - lifting the pelvis up supported on the feet - to help tone and strengthen as well as to develop hip mobility and muscle tone to the feet. Moved her bent legs side to side. Sat on wooden chair in the sunny studio with her feet on the floor and looking out at my dogs. Was able to roll a ball under her feet. Was able to bend forward and put her hands on the back of a chair - very stable and strong. When her family visited at Easter they were all thrilled with her wellness and brightness. She was full of family history and stories.

May 2004

Val tells me she stood up when she got out of bed in the night. Jim was not happy about her midnight exploits. By mid-may she was sitting unsupported on a chair moving freely from hips with feet on the floor (even though her ankles are weak and collapsing inward). With Jim's and my support Val came to standing.

June 2004

Surprise ! Val came in her walking shoes and I took this to mean a strengthening in her resolve and determination to try walking. A physio visit assessment suggested exercises to strengthen her legs if Val was motivated. Val is not keen on exercises!. She is happy to play at them with me but can't maintain interest at home.

July 2004

Jim put Val on the floor with the hoist. She lay back with her head supported then experimented with rolling over onto her sides. It was easier rolling to the left than the right and Val really enjoyed the sense of freedom and mobility.

August 2004

Val was rolling over more easily in both directions and pulling herself half up to the crawling position, showing her strength, mobility and independence. She came up from lying to bend forward and untie her shoe laces (Big changes). When sitting she can now push foot into a shoe with a person or something solid for support and then tie up the laces. She has a strong motivation for independence and self sufficiency.

Outcomes

After almost one year Val can now

•Sit unsupported

•Tie her own shoes

•Crawl (pulling herself up into crawling)

•Swallow without using a straw

•Talk easily, and is socializing, interacting with her family

•Balance herself when sitting upright (can hold her own great grandchild)

•Stand up (weight bearing) with support

•(is) Continent / regular

•Motivated (to be involved) with increased self esteem and

•Has reduced or discontinued some medications (particularly

analgesics and benzodiazepines)

Conclusion

My work with Val has made an invaluable contribution to my experience as an Alexander Teacher . Val and I will continue to work together . The experience for Val is equally if not more important as she has said herself that her day to day life experience and well being has improved.

Some links:

Youtube

Research

The importance of intensive Alexander lessons when learning to change our habits

Men who booked for a course of lessons with Alexander who taught in London in the first half of the 20th Century were advised that they should not get measured up for a suit prior to the lessons. Indeed over the course of 15 to 30 lessons, which they attended 5 times a week, there was frequently a change in shape which meant that the old measurement would be out of date: and this happened over the course of just three to six weeks.

We experience something similar on our training course. Over the course of the first thee to six weeks of daily work, we see very obvious changes in the new trainees movement and posture which is frequently accompanied by structural alterations. There then tends to be a leveling out of the pace of change over the subsequent three years of training with times of plateauing and times of big shifts. Women often find that they have to alter or get new bras, not because their breasts have got larger but because they have developed more width and expansion through the back and sides of the rib cage. Feet frequently become wider, necessitating the purchase of new shoes. And in my case at the end of summer in my first three months of training my arms seemed longer, and the arms of some of my long sleeved shirts to short, as the gripping of the arms into the shoulder girdle was undone.

Alexander was insistent that that anyone coming for lessons with him needed to come for lessons daily: he said that he didn’t want anyone to go away saying that his technique didn’t work And indeed he had great success teaching to this intensity even in exceptionally difficult and serious cases. This differs from the general practice of teaching the technique today, when people may come to lessons once a week, or even less frequently. People will frequently get benefit even from odd lessons, because if they are coming with a pain problem and can undo even a bit of the pattern which is creating and maintaining the pain that may take off enough pressure to relieve their symptoms. But this is different from making a deep change in the underlying pattern. And well-coordinated performers or athletes may get sufficient understanding of what they can do differently to improve their performance in just a few lessons.

The deep work of the technique and a process of profound change comes about most commonly by consistent work over at least several weeks. This should not be surprising given what we know about the process of neuroplasticity and how this works. Indeed Alexander was well aware of the plasticity of the nervous system, not only from his practical experience in working with many thousands of this “pupils” but also from his reading of William James, who coined this term for the nervous system in 1890.

Norman Doidge describes neuroplasticity as “the property of the brain that enables it to change its own structure and functioning in response to activity and mental experience.”(1) More than a century earlier, William James stated: “The plasticity of the living matter of our nervous system…. is the reason why we do a thing with difficulty the first time, but soon do it more and more easily, and finally, with sufficient practice, do it semi-mechanically, or with hardly any consciousness at all.” (2) Changing the structure and function of those parts of the brain which govern posture, movement and balance is the same as changing the structure and functioning of our whole psychophysical being.

As anyone who has learned another language knows the most effective way of learning is by immersion in that language. Very few people would develop any facility in another language by studying it once a week.

And Doidge describes the work of Taub who worked with stroke patients, many of whom were judged to have no further possible improvement. “Conventional rehab usually lasts for an hour and sessions are three times a week. Taub patients drill six hours a day , for ten to fifteen days straight. They get exhausted and often have to nap. …..Improvement begins rapidly, then lessens progressively.” He continues ‘For patients who continue to follow the exercises following the intensive treatment improvements continue over years after they have completed the program.” (3)

What we are seeing here is a similar trajectory to what happens with intensive Alexander work. Rapid improvement; frequently exhaustion over the concentrated course of lessons, as neuroplastic change is tiring; and students set on a path whereby they have the tools to continue the process of change and improvement over their lifetime.

Taub identified a number of training principles based on his work with stroke patients. “training is more effective if the skill closely relates to everyday life: training should be done in increments and work should be concentrated into a short time, a training technique Taub calls ‘massed practice,’ which he has found far more effective that long-term but less frequent training.” (4)

A unique problem with the Alexander Technique is that learners are called upon to practice something which they are unable to do: similar to the stroke patient, the thinking and motor action required has been so degraded by habitual misuse (or brain damage in the part of the stroke patient) that the person may be unable to access it, even if they have an intellectual understanding of what they are being asked to do. People’s ability to accurately sense what they are doing with themselves has, in many cases, become impaired meaning that if they rely on their kinaesthetic sense to guide them they will end up doing something different to what they intend and feel that they are doing.

Alexander technique works primarily via the nervous system to begin to change our underlying posture. The term posture is problematic, as people mostly understand posture as fixed positioning of their bodies and any fixed positioning interferes with rather than assists movement. Skilled and free activity requires a delicate balance of an upright flow or energy combined with a release of all tension not required for the activity at hand. It is this type of underlying posture as the neutral point from which we initiate activity, which we are referring to in the Alexander Technique. I discuss this in here. more detail here.

Our posture is affected by patterns of stress and holding of which we may not even be conscious, and by our interpretation of our kinaesthetic sensing to judge whether we are upright or not. Once our postural coordination is habitually interfered with our kinaesthetic sensing ceases to give us accurate feedback. Alexander described this as “unreliable sensory appreciation” and he compared our efforts to steer ourselves through the world under the influence of this unreliable sensory appreciation as akin to a sailor trying to navigate a ship which has a faulty compass.

One we correct our “compass” then we can begin to find ease in our simple everyday activities like sitting, standing and walking and we also have the underlying coordination to support us in in both simple and complex activities.

To overcome this problem Alexander would manually guide his learners repeatedly though simple movements, mostly from sitting to standing. In this process a skilled Alexander teacher helps the student firstly to rebalance by undoing extra holding in both sitting and standing postures and secondly to catch habitual fixing and tightening which they bring into movement. The way that Alexander described this processes was that he was giving “to the pupil the new sensory experiences required for the satisfactory use of the mechanisms concerned, the while giving him the correct guiding orders or directions which are the counterpart of the new sensory experiences which he is endeavouring to develop by means of his manipulation” CCCI (5)

"By this procedure a gradual improvement will be brought about in the pupil's sensory appreciation, so that he will become more and more aware of faults in his habitual manner of using himself; correspondingly, as with this increasing awareness the manner of his use of himself improves, his sensory appreciation will further improve, and in time constitute a standard within the self by means of which he will become increasingly aware both of faults and of improvement, not only in the manner of his use, but also in the standard of his functioning generally." (6)

In this process we "make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy." (7) What people take to be the result of aging, is frequently the result of unconscious habits - years of misuse, collapse, tension and mis-coordination which builds up and is accentuated over the years. This then creates a whole range of symptoms arising from the pressure and eventual tissue damage these years of misuse impose on the body. Alexander hoped that his technique would be used primarily as a preventive to these types of conditions rather than a cure. Much better to begin to reverse the habits of misuse before they cause problems. But even once problems are well established a change to better use of the body can begin to reverse many of the symptoms which people blame on aging.

(1) Doidge, N The Brain's Way of Healing : Stories of Remarkable Recoveries and Discoveries Penguin Books, London 2016 - Kindle edition Loc 74

(2) James, W Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life's Ideals (1899) - Kindle Edition Loc 584

(3) Diodge, N The Brain that Changes Itself Scribe p,147

(4) Ibid p.156

(5) Alexander F.M. Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual p.96

(6) Alexander F.M. Use of the Self p.43

(7) James, W Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life's Ideals (1899) - Kindle Edition Loc 598

Orthotics are often prescribed for the painful foot condition called plantar fasciitis, for “flat feet’ or “fallen arches, for high arches and for the pain and structural changes caused by rheumatoid arthritis. They are sometimes also prescribed to deal with knee, hip and back pain - the reasoning being that they will alter, in a useful way the biomechanics of a patient’s walking.

A news article in the Sydney Morning Herald on 31st March, headed "Expensive Orthotics No Better than Sham" took me to a systematic review of twenty high quality studies on orthotics and their impact on plantar heel pain published in the British Sports Journal of Sports Medicine

It appears that you might just as well buy cheap orthotics in a shoe shop as get expensive custom-made ones made for you. But how effective are orthotics anyway? According to the systematic review quoted in the newspaper "There is moderate-quality evidence that foot orthoses are effective at reducing pain in the medium term, however it is uncertain whether this is a clinically important change” And keep in mind that this study was only studying orthotics in the context of heel pain, not a range of other foot conditions.

This newspaper article generated a lot of comments ranging from people for whom orthotics had provided immediate relief from foot pain, to those for whom they had not worked, and those who had discovered another wonder cure, of which my favourite was wearing high heeled cowboy boots for a week. Scientific evidence for any strong effectiveness in most conditions except for rheumatoid arthritis and pes cavus or high arches does not exist. There is howeverfairly strong evidence of their ineffectiveness in treating low back pain

An Alexander Technique Perspective

I am often asked by clients for my opinion on orthotics and often on my opinion of the orthotics which they are wearing.

I will always ask then a number of questions. Are their orthotics comfortable to wear? Do the orthotics help to relieve any pain? Since they have been wearing orthotics have they got pain in other parts of the body? (This is not all that uncommon as orthotics will alter the biomechanics of walking.) How long have they been wearing their orthotics?

I also look at students standing and walking with and without their orthotics firstly as they normally walk and then as they may walk after the change brought to the overall body coordination in the Alexander technique lesson. At one extreme I have had one man come into my studio hobbling on his orthotics: his feet improved markedly once they were dispensed with. And at the other extreme I have seen a marked and immediate improvement in the overall coordination of a person with rheumatoid arthritis with the orthotics in.

The most common conditions people who have been given orthotics hare is an over-prontated ankle joint or “flat feet”. Pronation is the inward motion of the ankle bone and outward motion of the rest of the foot bones which occurs naturally in walking. Over-pronation occurs when the inward motion of the ankle bone is too much and goes past the healthy point of natural motion. In this case you can see the ankles visibly roll inwards. (See Figure 1 below)

If we look at people in their normal standing, a fair proportion has some degree of excess pronation compared to the ankle being neutral (See Fig 1.) A much smaller proportion of the population have excess supination which I won't talk about in this article. For many of those people, when the ankle is readjusted neutrally their foot arch is somewhat restored and their "flat feet" disappear. However we have a much smaller proportion of the population which have what I would call "true" flat feet where the ligaments and tendons of the feet have been so overstretched as to loose all elasticity.

While the arches are supported by a strong network of ligaments in the feet, the muscles supporting arches of the feet are not primarily in the feet, but are the much larger muscles in the lower leg which help to lift the arches. When these muscles cease to work to support the feet the ligaments of the feet can become over-stretched and weak.

What causes these muscles to cease to work as designed is a whole body dis-coordination, right from the head to the feet – what in the Alexander Technique we describe as “misuse” of the self. Basically the healthy foot is “sprung” by these powerful ligaments and tendons. If we attempt to stand on our hands we notice how heavy our body is, but our feet spring us up from the ground with no feeling of weight and effort.

Figure 2

This underlying postural disorganisation then underlies our movement patterns in walking and running. Look at the runners in Figure 3 We are catching them in just a moment of time, but the differences in style are quite obvious and the way in which the forces are moving through their bodies to their feet means that these forces will work differently through their feet. And for most of them those forces will be putting pressure, and over the longer term. causing pain and injury, if not to their feet, then to other parts of their bodies. Look also at the differences in walking between the child in Figure 4 and the woman in Figure 5, whose heels will strike the ground with considerable force.

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Obviously orthotics are not going to significantly change these underlying patterns of walking or running. The muscles which are failing to help to support the arches are being given crutches rather than being encouraged to work. And that encouragement can only come from a proper coordination of the whole body which will indirectly begin to exercise the appropriate muscles, not only for the support of the arches, but also for the support of the whole body.

For people orthotics may “cure” and for others will not “cure” foot pain. But orthotics don’t “cure” the underlying cause of most foot pain. And even if foot pain is “cured” people are still left with their underlying pattern of posture and movement which in the long run is likely to put pressure on a different area of the body – or they may alter the biomechanics enough to throw the body out of balance in a different way.

In my foot workshops and in teaching the Alexander technique more generally we start to identify the patterns of misuse which cause and perpetuate foot dysfunctions and to develop a new and improved pattern of the use of the self which will take pressure, not only off the feet, but off the whole of the rest of the body.

ON MAY 27 2018 I AM RUNNING MY WORKSHOP WORKING WITH THE FEET

I'M TEACHING IN TAIWAN, BERLIN AND PRAGUE IN JUNE JULY

WANT TO BE ON MY MAILING LIST - info@alexanderschool.edu.au - be sure to list where you live.

Why relaxation exercises do more harm than good is a question which F.Matthias Alexander raises and then explains in his first book.(1)

And he describes the type of exercise which he particularly dislikes thus: “The usual procedure is to instruct the pupil, who is either sitting or lying on the floor, to relax, or to do what he or she understands by relaxing. The result is invariably collapse (2)

According to Alexander “there must inevitably follow a general lowering of vitality which will be felt the moment regular duties are taken up again, and which will soon bring about the return of the old troubles in an exaggerated form.” (3)

Different meanings of the term “relaxation”

Alexander then goes on to identify two meanings of the term “relaxation.

1. The first involves an overall letting go of muscle tension, or a letting go of muscle tension in a particular part of the body without at the same time bringing the whole body into a state of overall coordination. I think that this is the way in which the term relaxation is most commonly used today.

2. He then goes on to explain a second meaning of relaxation, which is the type we are looking to develop with the Alexander technique. “For relaxation really means a due tension of the parts of the muscular system intended by nature to be constantly more or less tensed, together with a relaxation of those parts intended by nature to be more or less relaxed.”(4)

When we say that a runner or a singer has a relaxed style of running or singing, what we are seeing is only the muscular activity precisely required for the activity and no more. Comfortable, fluid and graceful use of the body has this dual combination which Alexander describes.

Relaxation in Tai Chi

松

In Chinese we don’t have a precise English equivalent for the word “song” 松 which is very often translated as relaxed.

In his translator's introduction to Mastering Yang Style Taijiquan, Louis Swaim describes the nuances of this term thus:

“Etymologically the term song is based on a character for "long hair that hangs down" -- that is, hair that is loosened and expanded, not "drawn up." Therefore, "loosened" and "loosen" are more accurate renderings for song and fang song. The phonetic element that gives the character song its pronunciation means, by itself, "a pine tree," which carries an associated imagery of "longevity," much as evergreens are associated with ongoing vitality in the West. This may provide a clue to the Taijiquan usage of this term, which must not be confused with total relaxation, but is closer to an optimal state of the condition referred to as tonus in English anatomical parlance; that is, the partial contraction of the musculature, which allows one to maintain equilibrium and upright posture. The aligned equilibrium this is prescribed in Taijiquan is associated with imagery of being "suspended" from the crown of the head. One can, therefore, draw upon the available imagery of both something that is loosened and hangs down, and that of the upright pine, whose limbs do not droop down, but are buoyant and lively.”

Relaxation in meditation practice

We encounter the archetypal picture of the Buddha sitting in meditation in every Buddhist temple e in the world. What we see in all of these images is a body pose embodying 松 (song) and the second type of relaxation which Alexander describes. We have the steady and connected core from the top of the head to the contact of the legs and pelvis on the floor (the pine tree) along with the complete flowing ease though every muscle not required to hold the posture.

Most people find it impossible to assume such a pose and often suffer considerable discomfort as they attempt to do so. Over-rigidity or collapse become the only options if we have not re-learned or have maintained from childhood a free and natural coordination in our everyday activities. In some traditions that pain and discomfort felt in meditation are attributed to “samskaras” - the subtle impressions of our past actions. And samskaras of course are embodied in our postural habits. The Alexander technique provides the most efficient means which I know of, of regaining this coordination.

References

Alexander F.M. – Man’s Supreme Inheritance – Chaterson Ltd, London 1946 p.viIbid p.15Ibid p.15

Humans are story-telling creatures. Over the course of history we have come up with stories ranging from the sublime to the outlandish to explain what we see in the world around us and about events in our own lives and the causative factors underlying them. And we do this using the best information which is available to us.

When we are struck down by pain or illness we have a desperate need to know what is happening and why it is happening. Giving our problem a name removes our sense of uncertainty - even if the name ends up being a rather bad one. And we want to know “what caused this?”

When it comes to back pain the same story-telling instinct is in play. The trouble is that the stories we are told, or that we tell ourselves has have consequences in themselves. And there is no lack of practitioners who will have an answer to that question - and the answers may well be different with different practitioners. And if we think we have a "buggered back" we will have.

Back pain may be attributed to spinal stenosis (narrowing of the channel occupied by the spinal cord), a subluxation (a slight misalignment of the vertebrae) a scoliosis, a kyphosis, an over-straightened spine, degeneration, wear and tear, a prolapsed or ruptured disc, arthritis, ligament strain and so on.

Sometimes MRI’s or X-rays are used to diagnose the nature and cause of the pain. Doctors are often under a lot of pressure from patients to prescribe an MR. However clinical guidelines are quite clear that MRI’s should not be used routinely, but only “for patients with low back pain when severe or progressive neurologic deficits are present or when serious underlying conditions are suspected on the basis of history and physical examination.”1 Unfortunately these guidelines are frequently not followed.

In addition it has been known for many years that- “ Imaging findings of spine degeneration are present in high proportions of asymptomatic individuals, increasing with age. Many imaging-based degenerative features are likely part of normal aging and unassociated with pain.” 2, 3 The fact that we have back pain may have little or nothing to do with what is shown on a scan.

And what is even more alarming (or amusing) is that specialists interpreting the results of scans can come up with conflicting results. Take the case of a study in which a woman visited 10 different radiologists. The study found (1) marked variability in interpretive findings and (2) a broad range of interpretive errors. The authors conclusion: This study found marked variability in the reported interpretive findings and a high prevalence of interpretive errors in radiologists' reports of an MRI examination of the lumbar spine performed on the same patient at 10 different MRI centers over a short time period. As a result, the authors conclude that where a patient obtains his or her MRI examination and which radiologist interprets the examination may have a direct impact on radiological diagnosis, subsequent choice of treatment, and clinical outcome. 4

And furthermore it is well known that the very fact of having imaging done can cause iatrogenic (doctor caused) harm to the back pain sufferer. This is not just a minor effect.. Early MRI without indication has a strong iatrogenic effect in acute LBP, regardless of radiculopathy status. Providers and patients should be made aware that when early MRI is not indicated, it provides no benefits, and worse outcomes are likely.5

People with chronic or recurring back pain often come to Alexander Technique lessons with a well entrenched story regarding their problem. Stories and images are powerful, and once we have internalised a particular image of our back or spine, which may have come from a scan it develops a power of its own. But it is not only from X-rays or MRI’ s that people form their images – it can just as often be stories which they have been told by different clinicians. Stories like “you have one leg shorter than the other” or “your pelvis is twisted” and so on.

The cause of the back pain may then attributed to a particular pathology over which the patient has no control or which needs to be managed by ongoing treatments/manipulations. He or she has a buggered back, A chiropractor, physiotherapist, acupuncturist or other practitioner may be able to provide symptomatic, temporary relief, but the underlying cause is visualised as being outside of the sufferer’s control.

Stories and images of structural damage or abnormality impinge deeply on people’s subconscious adding to the complex mixture of processes which make up the perception of and reaction to pain sensations. They are part of the ecosystem which forms our overall “use” of ourselves– posture, movement, overall reactivity, tension patterns, emotions and beliefs. They are part of what restrict and constrain us.

Recently I asked a chiropractor who was at a stall offering free spinal checks, whether they had come accross anyone with a "normal" spine that day. I already knew the answer which was "No", Usain Bolt the fastest man in the world doesn't have a "normal" spine: he has a scoliosis. But over time he developed the use of himself which took him to the top of the sprinting world. Have a look here at the evolution of his running style over time.

Like Usain Bolt the task is to develop a coordination which respects and works with our own unique physical makeup.

In Alexander technique lessons many students begin to experience ease, release of tension and lessening of pain by changing the overall pattern of posture and movement and by learning to respond to everyday tasks and demands of daily living in a more effective way. The work does not focus on specific areas of the body which may be blamed for causing their pain. Nor is the work an attempt to put the body into some "correct" mechanical alignment, but to bring about a coordination which is not imposed as a result of some predetermined idea of what is "good posture."

Please click on the picture to read the article.

"Alexander himself found when teaching his early students that the requirements of theatrical performance imposed a salutary discipline. He concluded that the Technique is best learnt if applied to, and measured against, the rigorous criteria of an established practical skill. We have found that for this purpose Horsemanship is ideal. Walter Carrington"

- Issue editorial Direction Vol 2, No 1 1973

Are you ever frustrated with yourself or your horse?

Does ease, lightness, smoothness and togetherness seem elusive? Trying harder or doing more hours in the saddle doesn't seem to help with your suppleness and ability to move freely with your horse's movement. Riding horses means we need balance, co-ordination, suppleness and mobility. Tension of any sort interferes with all and any of these things. Stiffness, unevenness, lack of balance, out of sorts - we notice this in our horses but in us it's too familiar. We are not aware that we grip with our knees, tighten in the stomach, hold our breath, sit to one side of the saddle. Perhaps some of these we do notice but can't change. These habits happen to various degrees depending on how long we have been riding. Riding is a long refined skill but whatever our level, our aim is to move freely with and not interfere with our horse's movement. Riding instruction is mainly about horse education. To systematically connect his mind and body while progressively developing his balance and gymnastic ability to move freely and easily on curved and straight lines, over obstacles, carrying a rider. Where is the help for a rider ? Instructors mean well when they tell us to sit still, not to move our hands and legs. But even trying harder and harder our legs still move or our head nods. We hear and understand the instructions but somehow our left hand still hangs on to the rein. No matter what we do the horse falls in to the left and seems stiff to the right. Does any of this sound familiar ? Perhaps none of this rings true but your horse has a history of lameness or a sore back. Having done all the right things, vet , saddle check, farrier, teeth, chiropractor, massage etc the problem re-occurrs. It maybe time to check out YOURSELF. Rider - crookdness, unevenness, tension, lack of balance, co-ordination, lack of ease and suppleness is often the source of horse unsoundness. Surprisingly, the everyday that we do often effect your horseriding skills. Stress, strain, tension, poor postural awareness, affect the ease of the way we move. Stress-filled lives plus bad furniture design contribute to many painful problems. The way we sit, stand, turn, pick up things is so deeply ingrained and taken for granted. So familiar are your tensions, crookedness, stiffness, that when put right it will feel quite wrong. The way we carry our handbag - always the same shoulder ? Our child - always the same hip ? How tense were you after the argument you had this morning ? Or the unresolved issue at work ? How about being stuck in traffic ? All these things effect our way of being on our horse. The Alexander Technique can help a rider develop suppleness, co-ordination, correct muscle tone, stability and sensitivity - these are the foundations of good balance and body control needed before you can find elegance and ease admired in the horse and the rider that moves as one. In an Alexander lesson or participation in an initial workshop, we work partly on the ground. A teacher uses gentle guiding hands as you sit, stand and walk. This helps you become aware of your habits of tension and how they interfere with your movement, co-ordination and posture. Paying particular attention to the balance of the head and it's relationship to our neck and back. Working also, in a saddle on a wooden horse, is a way of exploring your position with guidance from a teachers hands to help you release and ease out of tension without the complications of a moving horse. Being lunged on a school horse develops the awareness and observation skills that you started on the ground. This is a learning process that requires thoughtful participation, to achieve the best result. The aim is for riders to have an increased awareness of how to work on themselves so they can manage to change their own difficulties with greater efficiency. If you are using your body incorrectly, trying harder merely repeats and compounds your habits of mis-use. The Alexander Technique helps awareness of these patterns and teaches you how to eliminate excessive efforts, allowing you to move easily with natural balance, more energy and clearer thought. The Alexander Technique can be particularly useful for

riders wanting to improve their balance and have a clearer communication with their horseriders who suffer from pain, either from injury or tensioninstructors wishing to improve their knowledge and understanding of rider positions and application of aidsdressage ridersriders starting again after a gap wanting confidence and supplenessriders who care about the horse's well-beingsomeone riding for the first time

By Marigold Smith, Member of AUSTAT (Aust. Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique) Teacher of Horse Riding and the Alexander Technique. Wanting to share the enriching experience of 30 years riding and teaching in search of that unique horse and rider union. Marigold can be contacted at 20 Wallace Pde., HEALESVILLE Victoria 3777, Phone (03) 5962 1057

What is Body Mapping?

Body map is the term given to the representational map of our bodies we have each developed in our brains. It may also be called body model, body scheme or internal representation. In the first three years of our lives the development of our body map enables us to begin to walk, run, jump and speak. As we continue to grow and develop, so too does our body map. This process of development is predominantly informed by our experiences living in the world.

Unfortunately, over time our body maps tend to develop faults and may have entirely ‘blank’, unmapped areas. For example, many adults when asked to point to their hip joints will point to a higher bony aspect of their pelvis (iliac crest), the upper leg (greater trochanter) or state that they are not sure.

Unfortunately, over time our body maps tend to develop faults and may have entirely ‘blank’, unmapped areas. For example, many adults when asked to point to their hip joints will point to a higher boney aspect of their pelvis (Iliac crest), the upper leg (greater trochanter) or state that they are not sure.

Why is correcting and refining our Body Map important?

If there is a disparity in the mental representation (body map) and the anatomical reality, the mental always wins in movement! In other words, the problem with a faulty or incomplete body map is that it directly and oftentimes negatively, informs the way we move. Our faulty or incomplete body map may cause us to move in ways that are awkward, injurious and painful because we are simply not moving according to our design.

In the just described example of mis-mapped hip joints, the likely consequence will be that when this person bends i.e. to pick something up, they will bend from where they have mapped their hip joint rather than at the actual joint. In this case, since the ilium and head of the femur cannot bend, the bending will take place in the lumbar spine, placing undue stress and load upon this area. With repetition and over time this can lead to injury.

How does Body Mapping support and enhance my learning of the Alexander Technique?

A detailed and accurate body map will enhance the study of all somatic based education methods including Alexander Technique. By engaging in the process of continually correcting and refining your body map you will find you are more effectively able to utilize the information received in your Alexander Technique lessons.

Relaxation is a state of body and mind sought by many people. One of the most common reasons that people tell me that they are coming for yoga or Alexander lessons is that they are too tense and wish to relax. In fact I am not very interested in relaxation. If people are tense it is the result of a whole approach to life and manner of using themselves, and it is only when these areas are dealt with that "relaxation" is a possibility. Otherwise whatever method or technique we may choose to do, it will only be dealing with the symptoms of the problem. There are many ways in which people can be taught to "relax." One of the most common is the Yoga Nidra, in which a person lies on their back in the corpse pose and goes through all the muscle groups of the body, releasing them (or sometimes tensing and then releasing them.) We can also find relaxation by listening to music, smoking a joint or having a drink. Tension manifests as negative mental states, usually accompanied by obsessive thought patterns, bodily pain, discomfort and miscoordination and impaired breathing. From an Alexander perspective, it is mistake to try to go directly for "relaxation." The question that we should always ask ourselves if we are tense is "What am I doing to myself to be in this state?" A constructive solution to the problem of tension and relaxation can only come out of a state of inquiry. It is quite possible to use our relaxation or yoga practice exactly as we use a joint or a drink, to temporarily calm or mask the results of a whole way of life and patterns of use which need to be questioned. This questioning is of course the last thing we would prefer to do. Wouldn't life be so much simpler if there was a magic pill (Prozac?) which we could take and all our troubles would be over! F.M. Alexander, after who developed the technique was an actor who lost his voice. Alexander first went to have medical treatment and remedial exercises to try to regain the use of his voice. All of us will first of all go looking out there for someone or something that has the solution to our problem. Or even worse we project the cause as being something or someone "out there." You can divorce your wife, change your job, change your city or country, but you still take yourself with you and you may well find that with your next wife, job or country the same problems and stresses reappear. Sooner or later we have to come to the rather chastening realisation that the problem lies must closer at hand than we ever realized. When Alexander realized with absolute clarity that it was what he was doing with himself that was causing his problems he says, "I realised that self - accusation must replace self - pity." And he set out to change what he was doing with himself. There is a Buddhist parable about three types of horses. The first horse will run by simply seeing the shadow of the whip. The second horse will only run when the whip strikes it's skin. And the third horse is only prepared to run when the pain reaches the marrow of its bones. Hopefully we can initiate a process of inquiry and change before the pain reaches the marrow of our bones! We have to begin a process of change within ourselves - and of course we would all prefer for that change to happen while we still do exactly what we have always done. As we begin the process of change within ourselves, we may also change the external circumstances of our life, but this change arises out of wisdom rather than delusion. Here is what Sheila Kitzinger has to say about relaxation in her book, The Experience of Childbirth. "A French psychologist has said that 'relaxation is not simply learning at the level of muscular tone, but involves a maturing of the body image. In other words we cannot think of relaxation as a more or less specialized form of gymnastics, but must see it as an emotional experience involving a human being as an existential whole (embracing past present and future)" (p97) "The relaxation that is needed in labour is the kind that is required to perform any sport, to dance, to play the piano, to drive a car or to ride a bicycle. That is, all unnecessary tension is eliminated, everything that is not required for the task in hand." (p.118)

“Have a seat,” the receptionist says, thinking she’s being polite by offering you a place to sit while you wait for your appointment. What neither of you probably realize is that she’s asking you to take years off your life, weaken your body in general, and stress your back in particular. We look at chairs in terms of style and color and maybe even comfort, but we never think about the impact of this piece of furniture on our health.

In January 2011 Canadian physiologist Travis Saunders reported damning research in Scientific American about the changes in blood chemistry that occur when we are sedentary; sitting is associated with increased risk of mortality no matter if a person is young or old, fat or slim, a smoker or not. This means chair sitting trumps age, obesity, and smoking as a cause of death! The chemical changes that sitting produce leave us open to heart attacks, cancers, and other fatalities. "We'd better think twice about sitting down."

Why don’t we sit in healthier, more rational ways like perching halfway between sitting and standing, lounging, or even squatting? Blame it on the kings and pharaohs. They were elevated on chairs while commoners sat on the floor. Even Neolithic peoples saved chairs for women of special status. Chairs are associated with high status, and that early influence on their development has survived to this day. When you walk into an office for a job interview you know which chair is yours, definitely not the big one with a high back! The dining room chair with arms is not reserved for the frailest person in your family but rather for the head of the household. Office chairs, too, are ranked by status; upper management, mid-management, and clerks have different chair sizes. Status may be what has kept us from seeing the problems caused by chair sitting. It felt so great to have what the kings and bosses had!

We can save ourselves by moving a lot more than we do. This means redesigning not only our stuff, but also our way of life. Even a lounge chair is sedentary, which is a problem for we hunter-gatherers, who were designed for movement. Further, every posture other than lying down involves some kind of effort, so distributing that effort through the entire system over time is better than holding it in one place. But living with movement means rethinking what we tell our kids about learning to sit still. Since movement enhances learning, we might want to rethink how teaching and learning in our classrooms. Perhaps sitting still does not have to be the only way to show respect for authority at school or on the job. What if we had circuits for pacing, like walking a labyrinth, in lecture halls and classrooms? What if bosses allowed employees to lie down or stand up or pace while talking on the phone? What if public places had 3 or 4 different sizes of seats and accommodated 6 or 7 different postures --standing, leaning, lounging, lying, sitting cross-legged, kneeling, or squatting?

Now that we know about the problems that have come with a sedentary life, and chairs especially, we need to rethink the ways that our bodies meet the environment.

Galen Cranz is the author of The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body and Design (WWNorton, paperback 2000).

Galen is the visiting teacher for the School's 2014 Residential Course.

I have recently worked with a couple of massage therapists with thumb injuries. I have also worked occasionally in the past with guitarists with a similar arthritic symptoms of their thumbs.

In all these cases there is a common thread - the hyper-extension of the thumb whilst playing or massaging. Such hyperextension is a common cause of arthritis in other joints of the body also - the knees being a prime example. Basically if joints are constantly pushed beyond their resting range of motion pain is likely to occur.

So part of the answer is to always use the thumb with a slight flexion in the interphalangeal joint and metacarpal-phalangeal joints. Also if you are overextending through these joints it is also possible that you are overextending in the elbow joint and probable that you are jaming up your glenhumeral joints and whole shoulder girdle and at the same time hyperextending your neck, putting you in danger of further mucsculoskelteal pian and also nerve damange which may refer through into the arm and hand.

Abstract:

The Alexander Technique provides an answer to singers frequently asked question regarding the correct singing posture. Correct singing posture is based on good general posture. Singers with bad posture will simply tend to stand badly in a different way when the attempt to "stand straight" for singing. This article provides an experiment to see how well your singing posture works for you, and suggestions on how to correct it.

A question that singers often pose to me, as an Alexander Technique teacher is "what is the correct posture for singing?"

Singers come to the act of singing with an already established postural pattern. If this posture is faulty, as it most commonly is, then when they come to sing they try to correct this posture by "standing straight." Most commonly this involves tensing their legs and pulling back the shoulders in a way which narrows their back thus fixing their rib cage and affecting the ability of their floating ribs to expand to allow full expansion of the diaphragm.

It is normally easy to demonstrate to singers that their idea of "standing straight" is the very worst thing they can do for their breathing and voice by asking them to do the following experiment.

Experiment: Stand in your best singing posture and sing a few lines of a song. Now have a good slump. Make sure that you bend your knees. And now sing those lines again. What happens?

In 90% of cases singers find that their voice is more resonant and their breathing easier. Why is this? Simply put, what most singers think of as a correct singing posture simply tightens them up restricting both the breathing and the whole vocal apparatus.

Does this then mean that we should sing in a slump? No. This exercise is really to show singers that their habitual idea of good posture is counter-productive. But if we do less tensing allowing the legs to be somewhat freer and not pushing ourselves up, and pulling the shoulders back things will be easier.

Frederick Matthias Alexander, the actor after whom the Alexander technique is named worked with his voice problems by observing himself in mirrors in the act of vocalizing. If you do use mirrors you will need at least two, arranged so that you can get a side view of yourself.

If you were to use mirrors you may also see something that Alexander saw in himself, a tendency to tighten your neck as your head gets pulled back and down or poked forwards as you project your voice. This movement puts pressure on the larynx, restricts the free working of the vocal folds and in bad cases, causes nodules. The attempt to "stand straight" tends to activate extra underlying tension throughout the body, which makes this tendency even greater.

The educationist and philosopher John Dewey, as student of F.M. Alexander noted many years ago when writing about posture, that only the person who can already stand properly does so. If a person has developed a faulty postural pattern, they simply do not have the pattern encoded in their nervous system to stand properly, and any attempt to do so will simply result in standing badly in a different way. The idea that by an act of will they can stand correctly is simply a delusion.

So if we wish to find the correct posture for singing then most people will need to go through a process of reeducation of their postural and movement patterns in everyday life. We cannot suddenly transform ourselves when we come to the act of singing.

The process that Alexander went through to change his habits involved many hours of acute observation and experiment using mirrors. You can read about this in the first chapter of his book "The Use of the Self." More commonly today people can go to an Alexander teacher who can guide them through this process, with verbal and manual guidance. Vocal improvement and freedom of breathing are directly associated with better use of the whole body. If you wish to improve your singing find an Alexander teacher who is comfortable working with you in the act of singing as your posture improves, to help you identify and remove more subtle interference with your voice.

To find a qualified Alexander technique teacher find the Alexander technique professional society for your country on the internet. Or go the UK Society of the Alexander Technique (Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique) website and they will have links to all the societies to which they are affiliated.

David Moorehas been teaching the Alexander Technique for over 26 years. He is the director of the School for F.M. Alexander Studies in Melbourne, Australia which runs an international training school for Alexander teachers as well as offering a wide range of lessons and courses to the general public.

The School for Alexander Studies offers lessons in applying the Alexander technique to stuttering and other speech disorders. Here is an article explaining the application of the technique to stuttering.

The Alexander Technique arose out of voice difficulties. The principle behind the technique is that any specific symptom (such as stuttering) is a reflection of an overall pattern of mal-coordination or misuse. As Alexander describes it a stutterer stutters with his whole body.The process of dealing with a particular case of stuttering is written up by Alexander in his book "The Use of the Self" which is presently in print and available from many libraries or you can order it from this web-site. The Technique deals with how people respond to the stimulus to speak, and aims to bring about a level of coordination which allows them to break the habitual response which leads to stuttering. A teacher will want to deal with the overall pattern of a person's use of themselves, before focusing in on the specific and more obvious symptoms of the stuttering. You should understand that this is a long term reeducation process, and that you would need quite a number of lessons over a period of months rather than weeks. People often find many other benefits accrue from applying the Alexander technique, as many other symptoms as diverse as asthma, bad backs and necks and digestive problems may improve as their overall use of themselves improves.

In the 1890's in Melbourne, Australia a young actor called Frederick Mathias Alexander was struggling to save his career due to a problem with recurrent hoarseness and voice loss. His chosen career involved the projection of his voice to large audiences. Without the ability to do this his career was facing a premature end.

He consulted voice coaches and doctors but without success. The voice exercises he did were of no help and the doctor's advice to rest his voice only worked as long as he wasn't on stage. Finally he came to the conclusion that there must be something in the way he was projecting his voice which was faulty. He reasoned that if he could discover what the fault was and prevent it, then he should be able to regain his voice.

With the aid of mirrors, he began to meticulously observe and analyse what he was doing with himself, and before long he started to notice that every time he went to project his voice he tightened his neck, pulled his head back (and chin forwards) in a way which clearly put pressure on his larynx or voice box. Over time he came to see that he was in fact unnecessarily tightening up his whole body in the act of projecting his voice.

The way of stopping doing this however was not as easily discovered as Alexander had anticipated. Once he began teaching his technique he discovered in himself, and in others, that the power of habit was virtually overwhelming, and that his ability to sense what he was doing with himself when he was away from the mirrors was lacking. Those interested in reading in detail his process of discovery which took place over a number of years can read it in chapter one of Alexander's most popular book "The Use of the Self." Gradually, as he worked, his ability to accurately sense what he was doing with himself and to consciously change the old habit allowed him to establish a new and more effective way of projecting his voice.

As he went on he came to the realization that the reason that the voice exercises given to him by various teachers had not worked, was that he was bringing the same dysfunctional patterns to practicing the exercises as he brought to using his voice on the stage.

And on regaining his voice he also found that the asthma which had plagued him since childhood disappeared. It is frequently the experience of people who come for Alexander lessons for a particular reason find that because the work deals with a change in the functioning of the whole person, that the process can create remarkable changes in unexpected areas.

Eventually Alexander left acting and gained a huge reputation for his work not only with other actors, but with people with a whole range of different conditions, and in 1931 he set up his first training course for teachers in London.

Nowadays those suffering from a whole range of voice problems, as well as actors and singers looking to refine and improve their technique have access to Alexander teachers who can guide them through a process of change. The technique is now taught in virtually every elite performing arts school in Australia, North America and the UK.

Alexander teachers will help their students identify habits which interfere with the free functioning of the voice, and through both verbal and skilled manual guidance give them the experience of using the voice and the whole body in a much easier and more coordinated manner. One of Alexander's insights was that the free use of the voice is dependent upon the free functioning of the whole. He noted that a stutterer stutters with his whole body. This is an observation which anyone who has talked with a stutterer will be able to clearly observe. With other voice problems this may be less obvious, but an Alexander teacher is trained to observe and diagnose less obvious patterns which are not immediately obvious to an outside observer.

The teacher brings the impeding aspects of the student's manner of vocalizing to her attention and asks her to consciously stop doing those things. It is only by stopping the old reaction to the use of the voice that allows for the possibility of a changed way of vocalizing, and the teacher's skill in manual guidance is essential in showing the student a different possibility, which she would never otherwise have come to.

If you wish to consult an Alexander teacher it is important that you should ensure they are fully trained. Teachers should have undergone training at a school accredited by their national society, and which will consist of a minimum of three years of training over a minimum of 1600 hours. In the UK the society is The Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (STAT), in Australia AUSTATand in the USA, Am SAT. If you go to any of their web-sites you will find links to societies in other countries. All these societies are affiliated and subscribe to similar standards of training.

David Moore has been teaching the Alexander Technique for over 20 years. He is the director of the School for F.M. Alexander Studies in Melbourne, Australia which runs an international training school for Alexander teachers as well as offering a wide range of lessons and courses to the general public.

“In the perspective of every person lies a lens through which we can better understand ourselves” [1]

"Don't come to me, unless when I tell you you are wrong, you make up your mind to smile and be pleased" - FM Alexander [2]

One vital ingredient of any teaching and learning process is the giving and receiving of feedback. In Alexander lessons, teachers give their pupils manual (kinesthetic) feedback and guidance and provide verbal (aural) instruction and feedback as pupils refine their understanding of direction and inhibition. Teachers also use visual feedback – using the mirror, often so that pupils can observe that what they are sensing is different from what is actually happening. One commonly quoted principle of education is that it is most effective to use all three types of information - kinaesthetic, verbal and visual – in any teaching situation. Verbal feedback may take the form of observation, suggestion, hypothesis or judgement. Feedback gives the pupil information that may be out of their awareness or may put what they are aware of into a different and useful context. Feedback helps the student to see what they couldn’t see before ("The things that don't exist are the most difficult to get rid of" FMA) [3] and helps them to develop the ability to think in activity. And of course in the process of giving instructions and feedback the teacher is from moment to moment responding to the feedback he is getting from his students kinaesthetically, visually and verbally.

Good use requires an efficient process of internal feedback When our internal sensing of what we are doing with ourselves becomes inaccurate then our responses to all the activities of living become distorted and a vicious cycle is set up where faulty sensory perception leads to faulty responses which then over time further distort sensory awareness. In lessons the Alexander teacher provides external feedback to the pupil in a way which replaces the normal faulty feedback with the aim of gradually establishing a virtuous cycle of improved sensory awareness leading to improved responses leading in turn to improved sensory awareness.

I want to look at feedback from the perspective of the pupil and the teacher and also in relation to feedback in the context of our teacher training course.

As a teacher, what is useful and what is not useful in giving feedback?

As in most teaching situations a lot of the answer to the first question depends on the pupil and the situation. Here are some guidelines about giving feedback at the school and in general.

Feedback should be able to be responded to, or able to give the pupil useful information about how to respond. For example many statements which a teacher may make will simply cause the pupil to try to "do" something to create a change, when what they need to do is simply to inhibit and direct. For example to tell a pupil that one shoulder is higher than another may cause them to try to even them up by distorting the whole of their body. To tell them to open their mouth more in singing or speaking may activate even more strongly the pattern of holding that is stopping their mouth opening more in the first place. [4] The most useful feedback is that which allows pupils to catch themselves in their thinking process and which gives them information about their faulty sensory perception which is what they rely on in moving into an activity.Effective feedback comes from a place of accepting the person's being - feedback is on their doing, not their being.Effective feedback is not given out of frustration on the part of the teacher (self evident) – such feedback tends to arouse strong emotions in a pupil, usually of anger or hopelessnessEffective feedback is balanced – that is we give feedback when a pupils thinking process goes awry and we also let the pupil know when it works and when the pupil is able to make a change for the better. This is important not only for the pupils "self esteem" but more importantly it lets them know that they are on the right track. Also pupils do need to know that they are making some progress.Feedback should be accurate. Feedback like "That’s good" or "That’s better" in some circumstances gives the pupil very little information. What the pupil needs to know was how exactly it was good or better – or worse for that matter. Studies have shown that if children are given only positive feedback from teachers in order to boost or protect their self-esteem, they see through this & do not trust the feedback. In my experience of papers which my children have brought home marked by school teachers it is clear that there is reluctance on the part of some teachers to give full, honest and useful feedback. Honest feedback of pupils’ strengths and weaknesses in the learning process is far more trusted and therefore useful for them to act upon. – see "The Power of Mindful Learning"Effective feedback is timely - there is a time to speak and a time to remain silent.Effective feedback takes account of the personality and reactivity of the pupil. At a very deep gut level it is never pleasant to know that we are "wrong". If we set up the lesson as a joint exploration we can set up the situation where a pupil can rejoice that they have learned something new, rather than that they have been "wrong". Pupils come to us with a whole range of predetermined dispositions to be able to examine themselves objectively. They may want to please the teacher by being "right" and suffer anxiety in trying to be right. They may have been brought up in a hypercritical environment where whatever they did & however well they did it, it wasn’t good enough – so they have no hope that they will ever measure up to what they understand is being asked of them. They may have little interest in hard work on themselves, having come to lessons to be "straightened out" by the teacher as some pupils have described to me.

As pupils we process feedback in a number of different ways.

Feedback in the context of the training course at The School for F.M. Alexander Studies

Feedback is obviously part of any training course. Trainees receive feedback from teachers many times every training day in the process of turns and of group work. At this school in the group work trainees are also frequently asked to observe and make their observations to the individual and the group. We attempt to set up an open and questioning environment where trainees and teachers can explore and develop the work together. We are asking trainees to say "let’s look at this", "lets experiment with this", let’s question this". Also in some observation exercises teachers do ask trainees to observe and give feedback on the teacher’s own use. On this training you will be asked to learn to tolerate "being wrong" and "not knowing." - developing "Don't Know Mind" as one Zen master has described it.

These are the sorts of questions that Alexander’s early trainees dealt with. In reading accounts of his early trainees it is clear that after two or three years they worked out that he wasn’t going to teach them how to teach the technique – or at least not as they understood he should be doing. Trainees therefore got together themselves in the afternoon, and based on what they understood from their own developing use and what they had observed Alexander doing, they began to explore how to teach the work and to discuss their sometimes disparate understandings of the work. They were also required to undergo the rather arduous ordeal of rehearsing and then performing a Shakespeare play in a professional theatre.

Some contexts of giving feedback at the school are more fraught than others. For most trainees it is not a big deal if someone notices that they have pulled their head back in getting out of the chair. But when it gets to voice and performance groups we are working with an activity which may be much more "emotional" and with which it may appear we have less control. As Alexander found in his own exploration (see Chapter 1, The Use of the Self) the voice does not lie. For some trainees the voice day may be something of an ordeal (probably in an order of magnitude several times less that Alexander’s trainees experienced in their adventures with Shakespeare!) Our training school is not for everybody!

What are the reasons we ask trainees, right from their first week of school to give feedback?

Being asked to observe and verbalise that observation is a way of sharpening the observational skills of the traineeTrainees sometimes make observations that the teacher may have missedTrainees gradually develop the skill of giving efficient feedback. This will be developed significantly by their own observation of the usefulness of their feedback in aiding their fellow trainees in making a change in an observed activity. It may also be developed by getting feedback about the usefulness, quality or accuracy of their feedback by teachers or fellow trainees.

Experiencing and observing how teachers and other trainees give feedback, and observing the strengths and weaknesses of that process will also provide vital information. Indeed my observation of much Alexander training is that these skills (apart from the manual skills) are picked up at a sub-conscious level, from trainees’ observation and experience of the director and other teachers working. As Alexander points out in his chapter on Imitation in CCCI, it is much preferable to consciously copy, because in that case we are able to pick and choose rather than to swallow as a whole a way of teaching which inevitably includes its shortcomings. The larger and more conscious our experience of different ways of working the more chance we have of creating options in the moment of teaching.

Whilst teachers at the school will endeavor to provide informed feedback, it is inevitable that trainees will at times observe inaccurately and therefore give inaccurate feedback. Both trainees and teachers may, at times, give feedback that is not useful in terms of being able to do anything to make a change, or may misread the situation and give feedback in a way that may create anxiety, offence or other negative emotions. The fact that our course puts trainees into challenging situations such as performance groups on voice day makes this possibility higher than if we looked only at “safe” activities.

In this course it is fine to give people feedback on their feedback – in a useful and respectful manner. Of course it is axiomatic in the Alexander technique that we take responsibility for our own reactions.

Trainees are engaged in a professional training course – aiming at producing teachers who can work effectively on themselves, and are observant, self-reliant problem solvers who are skilled and effective in helping their pupils and in marketing their skills. In order to achieve this trainees enter an intensive process of self awareness and change where all habits and reactions are up for questioning. These habits and reactions naturally include our preferred ways of giving and receiving feedback. If we are pretty robust in dealing with feedback or tend to be very reactive we need to understand that others are not like us and that quite different approaches to what is "natural" to us may work very effectively with other people. We need to be able to monitor the response of our pupils to what we say just as sensitively as we monitor their response to our hands.

At the school feedback is not a one-way street. The culture is one which encourages feedback from trainees to the director and staff and procedures are in place to facilitate such feedback. Staff also work with each other – opportunities to meet, exchange, discuss and refine the work are provided weekly. Teachers meet once a term to review together the feedback from the trainees and to discuss their success in delivering the best possible training and to work out ways in which the training can be improved.

[1]

[2] FM Alexander - Teaching Aphorisms from Articles and Lectures Mouritz, London 1995 p204

[3] ibid p. 194

[4] FM Alexander Universal Constant in Living Centreline Press p29 – Alexander writes regarding his voice problem “Obviously for me to be told by a teacher to DO something new as a remedy for my trouble, practically amounted to my being told to continue using myself in the old way in order to do the new thing he suggested.”

There are certain subjects that do not seem to lend themselves to serious or interesting scrutiny. I would have said the history of the chair, and its place in society, would have been one of those subjects until reading Professor (and Alexander Teacher) Galen Cranz's new book, The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body and Design.

Professor Cranz takes a look at the history of chairs, their place establishing hierarchical relationships among people, and the various design attempts artists and architects have made at creating chairs. Cranz makes clear in her book that in chair design often the "emphasis is on materials-plastic, metal, and wood in varied applications-rather than on the effect of the chair and its structure upon the body and its structure." The chair becomes an object, an everyday sculpture, that oftentimes disregards the fact that it is being used in particular ways for particular purposes, with substantial impact on the individual who sits in the chair.

In recent history, an increasing focus has been made on the way chairs affect our use. For anyone interested in the way we use ourselves, the portion of the book that examines the ergonomic attempts to create a more body-friendly chair reads like a dark comedy, as various attempts are made to address one part of the body, without adequately considering another part. Cranz takes us through this process and helps us see the misconceptions that many designers have built into their chairs. One of the first, and biggest, problems facing designers is figuring out how to determine what would make a chair that facilitated ease and comfort. Comfort is a particularly vexing concept, for reasons obvious to any Alexander teacher, since the old familiar habitual patterns are going to tend to feel comfortable, at least in the short term. Cranz suggests that the various attempts at measuring comfort, including the use of "Electromyogram tests... stresses along the spine, using needles in the discs or pressure-sensitive pills" have been unsuccessful in measuring a meaningful change in comfort level for the person sitting.

Another refreshing aspect of the book is the radical notion put forward by a new breed of ergonomic designers that chair design specifically, and workplace design in general, should not be restricted by "traditional cultural expectations. They want to change traditional workplace design. For them, the beginning and end of design should be the body."

Cranz gives a short history of the Alexander Technique in her book, but only references the Technique when it is relevant to the general design questions at hand. The Technique is presented as a unique approach that can help inform chair design, without proselytizing about the specific benefits of the Technique itself. The Technique has simply become, in effect, part of the relevant literature on design issues.

In one section of the book, Cranz talks about how one's conception of gravity will change one's design ideas: "If a designer thinks gravity is the enemy, he/she will design chairs like bags to hold our collapsed structures. But if the designer believes that gravity is useful to us, the sitting surface can function more like a platform so that the structure of forces and counterforces helps us spring into the body's natural volume-as opposed to being stacked from the bottom up like a wall or collapsed into a heap." She goes on to say that "The most wide-ranging philosophical insight from the Alexander Technique and the somatic perspective generally is that human beings are designed for movement, and that more important than any single given posture is the quality of our movement, our overall coordination."

Cranz questions the traditional notions of lumbar support, of chair backs that do not continue high enough to support the shoulders and head, and of the various other design decisions that have interfered with a more natural use of the body. In the last sections of the book, Cranz lays out her recommendations for a better chair, ("a forward-tilt seat, firm-textured surface, a flat uncontoured seat, butt space between seat and backrest,") as well as examining some of the more unconventional approaches that have been taken to try to address the complex challenges of more intelligent and humane chair design.

Cranz has successfully turned a topic that could easily have been relegated to the back shelves of university libraries into a fascinating account of what chairs have been, done and stood for over the centuries, and what they can become in the future.

The athlete who can learn to inhibit a detrimental response to the stress of a big occasion is ideally prepared for competition - a heightened state of readiness, combined with poise. How can we use the situation in preparation for a challenge? Can relaxation techniques before the event go too far and limit performance?

Homeostasis is the physiological process by which the body’s internal systems are kept within strict operational parameters. Blood pressure, body temperature and blood acidity levels are changed by variations in external conditions. For example, during strenuous activity there is a build up of waste products and rise in body temperature. Some of the waste, such as gas by-products, can be secreted by sweat glands. The evaporation of sweat from the surface on the skin has a cooling effect and lowers body temperature. If we become dehydrated and are unable to sweat, skin temperature increases rapidly and may feel prickly. This can become serious if liquid is not taken to allow a return to an acceptable temperature.

Stress is another factor that affects internal systems. How an athlete handles stress is fundamental to performance. The belief that stress was harmful to performance led to the use of methods to reduce anxiety, such as hypnosis and progressive relaxation. However the research behind this practice has since been discredited. We do require a degree of anxiety to perform. Stress activates nervous and endocrine responses to prepare the body for physical activities even when this is not the most appropriate response. In response to stress the hormones cortisol and adrenaline are released to prepare for ‘fight’ or ‘flight’. These hormones increase functions such as breathing, the heart rate, sugar metabolism and muscle readiness. In short bursts it is a valid response to a perceived threat. However if the stress response is sustained over long periods it does have implications to our health. The stress hormones effectively shut down systems not immediately required for the fight or flight reaction such as the immune system.

It is important to be aware of our response to stress. It is possible to use the stress response to our advantage. We should recognise that stress is not the stimulus - it is our reaction to it! We can choose not to respond to a stimulus and prevent or modify the stress response. This is the essence of The Alexander Technique, a revolutionary system for controlling reaction. Using the technique we can learn to meet a stimulus (such as a stressful situation) and deal with it appropriately. It is better to respond (use reason) rather than to react (rely on habit). Loosing our temper is a good example of not dealing well with a stimulus.

Our ancestors’ survival mechanism may be detrimental for the office worker when under stress, but still appropriate for the demands of competitive sport. Relaxation methods have a role to play after an event when it may be necessary to halt the release of stress hormones into the system. However, we must ensure that relax does not mean collapse. The usual positions adopted for ‘relaxation’ often involve total loss of appropriate muscle tone thus impeding bodily functions such as breathing.

Before competing, techniques to lower anxiety can go too far and reduce our readiness for the event. Experiments with medical patients undergoing surgery found those who were too relaxed before the operation, took longer to recover. If the amount of adrenaline is too low before the trauma, there is a greater shock to the unprepared system. Relaxation techniques can achieve the opposite to the desired affect. Our structure requires tension to utilise gravitational forces in order to move and function. A poised athlete will have the necessary tension to enable good movement, without the need to artificially ‘let go’.

The impact on performance is unique to each athlete with some performing better with high levels of anxiety while others flourish with relatively low levels (known as Individual Zones of Optimal Functioning (IZOF) - Hanin (1978,1986,1997)). If a stressful situation creates an attitude that is going to stiffen the muscles (body armouring) and prevent free movement, the body’s preparation for fight or flight is undermined. The athlete who can learn to inhibit a detrimental response to the situation is ideally prepared for competition - a heightened state of readiness, combined with poise. The first step to take is to ensure we do not stiffen our necks or tighten the jaw as the first reaction to a situation we perceive as stressful. These actions impede the body's innate reflex systems for balance and movement - obviously essential for sport. This takes time to learn because we may have already developed the habit of reacting instantly to situations rather than respond after giving ourselves time to think.

Its interesting that Sport Psychologist Kenneth Ravizza's study into the zone (‘A subjective study of the athlete's greatest moment in sport’) drawing on many athlete's experiences refered to the state as:-

" … focusing on the present moment, effortless merging of action and awareness, loss of personal ego, sense of control, clear feedback, and an intrinsic reward system. "

Perhaps learning to 'live in the moment' will not only help with performance but also help us to deal with each situation as it comes, giving us the ability to act appropriately and let the big occasions get the better of us.

Roy Palmer is a teacher of The Alexander Technique and has studied performance enhancement in sport for the last 10 years. In 2001 he published a book called 'The Performance Paradox: Challenging the conventional methods of sports training and exercise' and is currently working on a new project about The Zone.

Research at the Johns Hopkins Medical Center casts serious doubts about the prevailing medical view of the cause of asthma and suggests an entirely new way of thinking about a disease that affects a growing number of people today, particularly children. Until now, doctors assumed that asthmatics were hypersensitive to irritants like dust, pollen or pollutants. This hypersensitivity was thought to cause the airways in the lungs to contract, blocking the flow of air and leaving the patients gasping for breath. This lung airway constriction process was assumed to be absent in nonasthamatics. But the new study strongly suggests that everyone is susceptible to asthmatic attacks and that the crucial difference between asthmatics and nonasthmatics lies in how well they can breathe after the initial assault on their system--specifically how efficiently they can take the deep breaths necessary to reinflate their lungs and clear the blocked airways. Researchers used the inhalant drug metachlorine to deliberately constrict nonasthmatics’ airways. The subjects were then told NOT to breathe deeply. “The nonasthamatics suddenly began to have breathing difficulties remarkably similar to those of asthmatics,” said Dr. Alkis Tongias, the leader of the group conducting the study. “This is just the reaction we would expect if asthma is caused by an impairment of muscle relaxation (in the lungs) triggered by deep breaths.” Dr. Marshall Plaut, chief of the allergic mechanism section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, commented: “These are somewhat unpredicted findings...if deep breathing has a critical effect on the way the lung relaxes, it is a mechanism that is not well understood and needs more study.” F. Matthias Alexander, the developer of the Alexander Technique, knew from his own experience a thing or two about gasping for breath, and how to overcome this problem. As early as 1903, he wrote: “Imagine the folly of narrowing an air tube when desiring to force a larger volume of air through it: and yet this is exactly what occurs in ordinary breath-taking.” When Alexander began teaching his method, he was known as the “breathing man” because he was able to help so many of his students regain the full use of their breathing mechanisms.

Could it be that asthmatics are particularly prone to constricting their nasal and throat passages when trying to take deep breaths? And could it be that this is caused by poor breathing habits, habits that may well have been learned in early childhood? If so, reeducation of the sort the Alexander Technique provides could make a huge difference in their lives. A more complete account of the Johns Hopkins study can be found in an article titled “Study Induces Asthma Symptoms, Pointing to a Failure to Relax” by Warren Leary in the New York Times Health section, page B10, November 1, 1995. The quote from Alexander comes from an essay titles “The Prevention and Cure of Consumption.”

Robert Rickover is a teacher of the Alexander Technique living in Lincoln, Nebraska. He also teaches regularly in Toronto, Canada. Robert is the author of Fitness Without Stress - A Guide to the Alexander Technique and is the creator of The Complete Guide to the Alexander Technique.

Running and back pain are mentioned in the same sentence more often than they really should be. Running is an excellent activity for staying in shape and for many it provides a lifetime of enjoyment, challenges and purpose. For others it’s either a short-lived activity or a stop-start routine due to injury.

If you experience back pain whilst running or following a session check out the common causes below:-

Worn or inappropriate running shoesTrying to hold yourself uprightPushing forward to runToo much bounce in your strideRunning whilst carrying an injury

Start with the easy options such as changing your shoes. If your running shoes are worn out or not suitable for you they will not absorb the constant shock of the impact with the road causing compression and jarring in the discs in your spine. Visit a good running shop and ask to have your running technique assessed so they can recommend the best shoe for you.

If changing your running shoes does not help get yourself checked out by a physical therapist for any hidden injury problems. If you still experience back pain whilst running the most sensible thing to do is to assess your technique.

Is it your technique?

For most runners it’s lower back pain that causes the most problems. I believe there are two main causes for this in relation to running technique.

Another cause of lower back pain for runners is the thought that running is about going forward, okay of course it is, but it doesn’t require you to ‘push’ forward to do it. Running is really about passing a force into the ground and using the hip, knee and ankle joints to translate that into a forward motion.

Golden Rule: Use the ground and not your back!

Your running technique could be the cause of your problem. Once you can develop an efficient, relaxed style you may find that running and back pain are no longer mentioned in the same breath.

Okay, I admit its an inflammatory title but I feel its an issue that needs debating and it probably got your attention.

In 1989 the International Union of Physiological Sciences Conference debated the head-neck sensory motor systems as a factor in movement and balance. As a result, over one hundred papers were written on the subject in the following three years. In the editor’s preface to the publications Berthoz wrote: "The need for a thorough analysis of all aspects of head movement control is all the more important because head movements are a core element of orienting behaviour involving a number of interactive sensory and motor systems."

It is therefore difficult to explain and justify the current popularity of exercises used by many therapists to promote what is known as ‘core stability’. These exercises were devised in response to the perceived problem of poor support. The patient is encouraged to concentrate on using specific muscles to stabilise the core to support an area known to have a weakness. The problem with this action is that it is contrary to the function of the nervous system.

Gerald Gottlieb, a respected scientist working in the field of motor control stresses that one of the functions of our central nervous system is to minimize muscle stress. This, he argued, is why we should not override this directive by concentrating on individual muscle activation during activity. Are we in danger of over doing it when we try to control the actions of specific muscles? Remember this is physiologically impossible anyway! Whilst the nervous system is in favour of minimising stress to help maintain free joint movement and reduce pressure on the internal organs, we are consciously doing the opposite.

Following on the back of this paper sports scientist Dr Mel Siff writes:

"how can one prescribe specific set ways of recruiting muscles in any complex natural movement if research now shows that these highly deterministic patterns of muscle action are not characteristic of human movement?"

and

"Research into motor control has never shown that training of individual muscle actions enhances skilled complex motor activities."

The maxim of "the body knows of movements,not muscles" is constantly reiterated to emphasise this fundamental point. The learning of the motor skills required to execute a given sporting movement are acquired by regular practice of the movement itself, not by teaching isolated joint or muscle actions that are believed to play some contributory role in the sporting movement.

We should not attempt to directly control muscle recruitment for movement or exercise, it should be the thought of an act that initiates our total muscle response and the subsequent movement that determines ongoing involvement. When the managing director decides to sweep the factory floor instead of staying in the boardroom making the big decisions, he interferes with the operation of the whole organisation.

If our innate balance mechanisms are allowed to perform their function unimpeded there is no need to consciously engage muscle or strengthen the middle of the structure independently. In the absence of interference, the reflexes responding to gravity will help to ensure optimum balance and movement.

Mulder and Hulstyn’s research published over twenty years ago ('Sensory feedback therapy and theoretical knowledge of motor control and learning'. Am J Phys Med 63:226-244, 1984.) stated:

"Normal movement does not consist of isolated actions that are cortically controlled. Rather it is a sequence of synergic movement patterns that are functionally related. Besides initiating muscle activation, which produces the movement, synergies also serve to maintain equilibrium. Therefore, another goal of treatment may be to improve dynamic postural and movement synergies available, decreasing the tendency for excessive and prolonged recruitment of muscle activity to stabilise posture during movement. Thus, muscle re-education sequences should NOT be performed in isolated movements. Instead they should be incorporated immediately into functional, goal-oriented tasks".

More recently Stuart McGill Ph.D (Physiology) published a paper stating:

"The task of daily living is not compromised by insufficient strength but rather insufficient endurance. After an injury it has been demonstrated that the motor system loses its fitness, and abnormal relationships of muscle activity occur. Endurance training is emerging to be far more important in stabilizing the spine than strength. Strong abdominal muscles do not provide the preventive or therapeutic benefit that was thought. Sit ups, with knees bent or even abdominal crunches have not demonstrated any real benefit for the low back. Further, pelvic tilts may actually make the low back worse. There is little support for low back flexibility to improve back health and reduce the risk of future back trouble. Research is demonstrating that endurance has a much greater preventive value than strength. In fact, emphasis on endurance should precede specific strengthening exercise in a gradual exercise program. Increasing evidence supports endurance exercise in both reducing the incidence of low back injury and as treatment. This would include such daily activities as walking, cycling, swimming or repetitive low demand exercise to specific muscles. Co-operative muscle activity is a necessary prerequisite to obtain the desired endurance. That co-operative muscle activity is dependent on proper joint mechanical motion as is proper joint motion dependent on co-operative muscle activity."

also

"…spinal stability is achieved with very low levels of abdominal co-contraction, focusing on a single muscle is misguided, and that "sucking in" the TVA in fact compromises, not improves, spinal stability."

So perhaps a misunderstanding of the problem has led to a short-term remedy. A number of therapists are starting to question the thinking behind core stabilisation techniques as to date there is no convincing clinical evidence to prove their effectiveness. Because it may appear to achieve a result and ‘feel’ good it is not surprising to find the core stabilisation theory featuring in numerous popular exercise philosophies. Again Dr Siff writes: -

"At the very outset, we have to dispel the belief that it is possible to focus on 'core stability' on its own. Unless one's entire body is off the ground or is immersed in water, the idea of stabilising the core separate from other parts of the body is sheer nonsense, since the ability of the core in all sports in which one is in touch with a static or moving surface depends strongly on peripheral stability (the limbs).If one is carrying out some movement such as lifting weights, doing aerobics, running, jumping or playing some ground-based sport, the body stabilises as a whole, with interacting contributions from the periphery and the core….. The world of core stabilisation currently remains far too heavily based in marketing and belief than in valid science."

The actions encouraged to promote core stability may feel like they are strengthening the centre of our body. In the absence of ‘valid science’, they appear to protect the spine because it must make sense to support the body from the centre. But the theory ignores the role that limbs play in maintaining stability and the overall controlling influence of the balance and righting reflexes. The few disciplines that do recognise the importance of the head, neck and back relationship resort to what they know best to ‘improve’ it - exercising the muscles of the neck! The exercises designed to achieve this have the effect of increasing interference in an area that requires none.

FM Alexander, founder of The Alexander Technique, looked to promote appropriate use of the head, neck and back muscles by removing the habits that prevent it. This, he argued, would allow the body's innate reflexes to activate the muscles accordingly to maintain balance and support. If these reflexes were not functioning resulting in poor posture, he concluded the problem lay with the near universal habit of excessive application of effort to perform even simple actions. This has to be addressed firat before any other intervention to correct the problem. In reality the only thing we can directly do in relation to the righting reflexes is to unknowingly interfere with their function. Anthropologist, Raymond Dart, wrote: The prime factor about human body movement is that it entails the co-operation or integration of both conscious and unconscious mechanisms, i.e. the ‘will’ and the ‘reflex’. To achieve the level of integration necessary for optimum movement we need to prevent the conditions likely to impede this co-operation.

If the amount of effort applied to a task is excessive, the resulting muscle activity is likely to interfere with the reflex by reducing sensitivity. Activation of the reflex could either be delayed or even totally restricted. When the reflex is finally activated, movement is limited due to the reduced capacity of a shortened muscle to contract further or its inability to lengthen when required.

Alexander stressed that if we stop doing the wrong things the right things take care of themselves. If we learn to stop stiffening the neck, the head will ‘find’ its own balance and bring about the most appropriate muscle tone for the current situation to facilitate our innate righting reflexes. As we do not know what the optimum tone should be for each muscle it is not something we should try to achieve. Activities performed with minimal interference with our balance mechanisms will ensure the most appropriate muscle response. Good quality movement promotes the right type of conditioning and removes the need for additional ‘specialist’ exercises.

So how do we attain good movement in order to get into shape? First we need to establish what it is we have been doing to get out of shape, and then we have to learn to stop doing it before we attempt anything else.

Roy Palmer is a teacher of The Alexander Technique and has studied performance enhancement in sport for the last 10 years. His new book‘Zone Mind, Zone Body’looks at how you can take your fitness and performance to a new level by doing less. This doesn’t mean putting your feet up, it means learning to train smarter.

A recent article in the New York Times, "Doctors See a Big Rise in Injuries As Young Athletes Train Nonstop" highlights a serious and growing health concern for teenagers and their parents. Typical injuries include stress fractures, cracked kneecaps and frayed heel tendons and damage to the alignment of the spinal column brought on by excessive flexing. As the article states, “...doctors in pediatric sports medicine say it is as if they have happened upon a new childhood disease, and the cause is the overaggressive culture of organized youth sports.”

The consequences of this new “disease” can be very serious, often requiring many months of expensive rehabilitation or even surgery. Some young athletes are left facing a lifetime of pain and physical restrictions.

The article emphasizes the role played by pressure from coaches and parents and by a culture in many sports that places so much emphasis on performance, and on winning, that players often ignore the pain signals coming from their bodies.

I was struck by the parallels between this teenage phenomenon and the wave of injuries reported during the early stages of the fitness boom of the 1980s. At that time, there were a great many newspaper and magazine reports of everything from severe shin splints caused by prolonged running on concrete to serious back and neck pain due to improper methods of weight lifting.

I can well remember the sudden influx of students during that period who came for Alexander Technique lessons after giving up on demanding exercise regimes because of pain or injury. They just wanted to learn how they could get back to where they were before and sadly that was not always possible. It seems that when a new fitness or sports trend begins, there is a heavy price to be paid by some participants.

What strikes me about both the current spate of injuries and the one that took place two decades ago is that in both cases, a huge emphasis on QUANTITY of exercise almost completely obliterated any concern with the QUALITY with which the exercise was performed. All too often fitness programs tend to be about things like how many miles you run, how many pitches you pitch, or how many hours you swim rather that how well you’re using your body as you run, pitch or swim.

It’s a bit like driving a car as fast as you can, for a long distance, without bothering to learn how to drive it well!

I am convinced that the current over-emphasis on quantity is one of the main reasons there are still so many sports and fitness related injuries. Sometimes it comes from the athlete him or herself - perhaps reflecting a common cultural idea that more is better. Sometimes it comes from outside. That certainly seems to be a large part of what’s going on with some young athletes today.

Anyone who studies the basic ideas of the Alexander Technique will very quickly see just how important the quality of one’s posture and movement is to the effectiveness and safety of any activity. This is true whether it’s a vigorous activity or something as mundane as using a computer or even watching TV. And if they decide to take up a new sport or fitness program, they have the knowledge and ability to approach it with skill, and with an appropriate level of body awareness and care.

(The article, “Doctors See a Big Rise in Injuries As Young Athletes Train Nonstop” can be found on page 1 of the February 22, 2005 issue of the New York Times.)

Robert Rickover is a teacher of the Alexander Technique living in Lincoln, Nebraska. He also teaches regularly in Toronto, Canada. Robert is the author of Fitness Without Stress - A Guide to the Alexander Technique and is the creator of The Complete Guide to the Alexander Technique.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Robert_Rickover/41504

Do you think your posture is poor? Have you tried a course of posture exercises to correct it? Most people would say they feel their posture could be better but why does it become poor and what is the best way to improve it?

Modern living means we probably are not as active as previous generations. We spend long hours sitting at desks, in cars or when relaxing, slumping in front of the TV. In these situations you are not using your muscles as nature originally intended. Parts of your body get overworked such as your neck and shoulders whilst others will get weaker, invariably the lower back. Poor posture has been recognized as a factor in health for many years resulting in the development of posture exercises to correct it.

However, this approach may be misguided as the focus on specific muscles for improving posture could affect your body's natural support reflexes.

Your body has built-in postural reflexes to coordinate muscular activity for support and movement. If your posture has deteriorated it is likely these reflexes are not being allowed to work properly. Stress may be causing you to stiffen your neck and tighten your shoulders. These actions will override your natural mechanisms for balance and movement. Constant inappropriate use of these muscles will eventually corrupt how you move. It becomes a catch-22 problem. The more you move in a poor way, the better you get at moving this way until it feels right.

Whilst I appreciate the popularity of exercises to improve posture, including core stability routines, I believe they result in unnecessary tension in the body. Should we have to work core muscles individually to get our body to stand tall? Did nature intend this as the best way to stand?

In my role as a teacher of The Alexander Technique I see many people who suffer as a result of poor posture. I also see just as many who are suffering as a result of their attempts to correct it! Adding a little extra tension in order to stand properly will not improve your posture - it just adds to the strain on your muscles and joints. Rather than trying to stand and sit in a way you feel is correct, you can learn how to remove the unnecessary stress in your body and allow your postural reflexes to work as nature intended.

So forget about posture and learn about Poise.

Poise is a lost skill from our youth. When you have poise you use far less effort and your body will support itself with ease allowing you to move, breathe and function more freely. Poise is evident in top athletes and performers. Think of Muhammad Ali or Fred Astaire in their prime and that gives you a great example of freedom in movement. I doubt if they used exercises to improve their posture!

Poise can only be regained by first taking out the tension in your body and appreciating the push you get from the ground. When you are on top of the world and walk with a spring in your step, you are poised. When you can sit at your desk and feel no tension in your neck, shoulders and back – you are poised. Trying to improve your posture by trying harder will take you further away from your natural poised state. So don’t try – let whatever is beneath you push up and think of letting go to sit, stand and walk taller and you will be on your way to a return to poise.

Roy Palmer is a teacher of The Alexander Technique and has studied performance enhancement in sport for the last 10 years. In 2001 he published a book called 'The Performance Paradox: Challenging the conventional methods of sports training and exercise' and is currently working on a new project about The Zone. More information about how to improve your posture can be found by clicking Posture

The Alexander Technique and Back Pain

Notes for a workshop on the Alexander Technique presented to the 5th Interdisciplinary World Congress on Low Back and Pelvic Pain, Melbourne November 14, 2004, by David Moore, director of the School for F.M. Alexander Studies, Melbourne.

The Alexander Technique is an educative process, which provides a means of changing ingrained patterns of coordination and stress reactions which may be underlying causes of back pain and a wide range of other dysfunctions.

Historical Perspective

The Alexander technique was developed from the work of F. Matthias Alexander (1869 – 1955), an Australian actor who lost his voice on the stage. Through a long process of observation and experimentation he discovered that the loss of his voice was due to an overall pattern of contraction (misuse) and that in order to regain the healthy functioning of his voice he had to change this overall pattern of misuse. He then began to work with others first as an elocution teacher, but increasingly with a range of people with diverse medical problems, as it became clear that altering overall patterns of miscoordination had a profound effect on many pathological conditions.

The 1973 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine, Nicholas Tinbergen, devoted half of his Nobel oration to Alexander’s discoveries. He said "This story of perceptiveness, of intelligence and of persistence, shown by a man without medical training, is one of the true epics of medical research and practice."

He moved to London in 1904 and developed a busy practice working, amongst others, with many leading actors, doctors, intellectuals and politicians of his day. One of his major supporters was the philosopher and educationalist John Dewey who wrote introductions for Alexander’s four books, and in whose work the influence of Alexander can be discerned. (His influence can also be discerned in Alexander’s books, some of which he assisted in editing).

Alexander set up a training school for teachers of the technique in London in 1931 running a three year full time training, and since his death training schools have been set up in many countries throughout the world, including the School for F.M. Alexander Studies in Melbourne.

Basic principles of the Alexander Technique

during this workshop I will be using a number of technical terms. Defining these terms will also help explain the technique in more detail.

USE: is a technical term we use in this work to den

None of the following describes the meaning of "use", but if we combine all these into a present moment observation in an individual we can be said to be observing how he is using himself.

PostureMovementStress reactionsBreathingEmotional stateCognitive functioning

All the variables listed above tend to from an underlying constant state (which may vary in intensity but not in overall quality). From an Alexander point of view, none of the above can be adequately understood much less dealt with in isolation from the others.

When we look at something like lower back pain what we are observing is a result of a habitual and ongoing dysfunctional pattern of use.

These dysfunctional patterns of use are so much part of us that we are largely unconscious of them, or pick out only isolated aspects which we then try to change by such expedients as standing and sitting "straight’ pulling our shoulders back, "deep breathing" or "relaxing". Such patterns can however only be dealt with as a whole.

USE AFFECTS FUNCTIONING

This work is based on the premise that they way we use ourselves affects the way we function. The proposition that "use affects functioning" was named "The Alexander Principle" by Dr Wifred Barlow, in his influential book of the same name. Change the way in which we use ourselves and we indirectly alter our functioning.

In the drawing above we see how the "use" affects and is affected by both structure and functioning. Any effective intervention in terms of back pain will be aiming to turn what has become a vicious cycle into a virtuous cycle in relation to these three variables. For any intervention to have the possibility of having long term benefit all three variable will need to change.

In relation to back pain different modalities tend to focus more on one point in this cycle. Surgery, orthotics, and certain forms of manipulative therapy focus on structure. Acupuncture, massage therapy and medication focus on functioning. Movement education focuses more on the aspect of use.

From the Alexander point of view, the emphasis in many forms of remedial exercise however can tend to focus too narrowly on structural aspects, neglecting the wider aspects of the problem. Overemphasis on the role of individual muscles or groups of muscles as key stabilizers looses sight of the overall coordination in which these muscles operate.

When you make a movement, any movement, you use

Prime moversAntagonistsMuscles stabilizing the part of the body which is movingMuscles responsible for maintaining the balance of the whole body in the changing situation created by the movementMuscles responsible for maintaining the shape of the body, the integrity of the structureYou also need to inhibit, consciously or unconsciously muscular activity, which will interfere with the movement you are making.

PHYSICAL COORDINATION AND PRIMARY CONTROL

One aspect of Alexander technique training is that teachers develop a highly sophisticated understanding of the physical coordination of the body as a whole. Coordination can only take place if the various parts of the body are in proper relationship to each other – starting from the balance of the head on top of the body. Alexander referred to the relationship of the head, neck and back as creating a primary control over the coordination of the whole body.

The attempt to change the coordination of a particular part of the body – (eg increasing or decreasing the lumbar curve, or strengthening or stretching particular muscles or groups of muscles) should therefore only be undertaken in the context of awareness of the whole body from head to feet. Indeed Alexander claimed that many interventions, whist "successful" in alleviating particular symptoms, contained the danger of giving rise to unintended consequences due to the lack of attention to their affect on the overall pattern of coordination. (Common examples of this are lower back damage due to incorrect stretching of hamstrings (forward bends) and tightened neck muscles from the process of activating "core postural muscles".)

FAULTY SENSORY PERCEPTION

A major conundrum that confronts anyone trying to alter patterns of posture or movement or to learn a skill, is the little recognised fact that most people’s proprioceptive and kinaesthetic senses are not being interpreted accurately. Faulty coordination and faulty sensory perception go hand in hand. Any attempt to alter postural and movement patterns must therefore take this variable into account, and find some way of dealing with it. Indeed Alexander described the aim of his training as the restoration of kinaesthetic accuracy, which is the prerequisite of adequate coordination.

In order to overcome this apparently insuperable obstacle to improved use, Alexander teachers are trained in the use of very subtle manual guidance to work with their students in everyday activities till they can gradually develop more accurate kinaesthetic awareness, which will allow them to guide themselves in efficient movement.

(If anyone doubts that faulty kinaesthetic perception is a common phenomenon it will be amply demonstrated at this workshop.)

INHIBITION (as a good word)

One of the discoveries of Alexander in his own case was that the very stimulus to project his voice, resulted in a response of interfering with his breathing and tightening his whole body. Before he could do anything different he had to stop (inhibit) this reaction.

One of the distinctive aspects of retraining with the Alexander technique is the wrong thing has first of all to be abandoned before a change for the better can be made. In other words if we attempt to do something different without inhibiting the old habit the new way of doing things will be superimposed on a pre-existing faulty way.

In working with dancers with back pain who have consciously trained their bodies in particular ways we often come across multiple layers of correction overlaid on pre-existing faulty patterns.

This emphasis on breaking the stimulus/response pattern is central and crucial to the Alexander work. Often if the response can be inhibited the right thing will do itself.

DIRECTION

The other distinctive aspect of working with the Alexander technique is in the use of conscious directions to begin to ease the body out of habitual contractive patterns. The directions provide a conceptual framework to provide guidance on what to think, instead of repeating the habit. In Alexander lessons these directions are given verbally in association with gentle manual guidance, and as the students sensory awareness begins to improve they are asked to apply the directions in daily activities.

These directions relate to the improvement of the primary control – allowing the neck to be free & the head to move up as the back lengthens and widens. The words in themselves are quite inadequate without the initial manual guidance.

DIAGNOSIS

Alexander teachers are highly skilled diagnosticians, not of pathology but of the patterns of use that may underlie pathology.

Alexander teachers consider their role as primarily educative – symptoms such as low back pain are approached in an indirect manner, by altering the overall pattern of use.

IS THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE LIKE YOGA, FELDENKRAIS ETC?

The late Patrick Macdonald, one of the first generation of Alexander teachers listed the items which he believed were central to the Alexander technique.

Recognition of the force of habitInhibition and non-doingRecognition of faulty sensory awarenessSending directionsThe primary control

I am not aware of any discipline in which all these five central points are present.

I am indeed unaware of any approach to learning, change and rehabilitation, which recognises the existence of faulty sensory perception (a phenomenon which can be easily demonstrated).

Certainly any approach to rehabilitation of back pain through educative means, or any treatment whose result depends on a change in the overall use of an individual, must take into account the insights of the Alexander technique.

Accreditation and Training of Alexander Technique Teachers

Most teachers in the world have been trained at schools approved by national societies affiliated with the original English society – The Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique. All teachers trained at these schools have undergone a minimum 1600 three-year training course over a minimum of three years with a maximum teacher to trainee ratio of 1:5 for the practical work which takes up the bulk of the course time. A major focus of this training is on how trainees use themselves, for the ability of teachers to help others change their patterns of use is from their personal experience.

List of books and resources:

F.M. Alexander’s own books are essential reading for a in depth understanding of the technique. "The Use of the Self" is the most accessible of his books.

Alexander F.M Man's Supreme Inheritance Mouritz, London, 1996

Alexander F.M Universal Constant in Living Mouritz, London, 2000

Alexander F.M Constructive Conscious Control Victor Gollancz, London, 1987

Alexander F.M Use of the Self Orion, London, 2001

Other titles:

Barlow W Alexander Principle Orion, London, 2001 – (Barlow was an Alexander teacher and rheumatologist and this book looks at the technique from a reasonably medical viewpoint.)

Elizabeth Langford Mind and Muscles: An Owner's Handbook Garant Uitgevers, Belguim, 1998

Conable B How to Use the Alexander Technique Andover Road Press, Columbus, OH, 1995

Garlick Dr. D Lost Sixth Sense University of NSW, Sydney, 1990 – based on his research into the Alexander technique

Gelb M Body Learning Aurum Press, London, 1981

de Alcantara P Indirect Procedures OUP, Oxford, UK, 1997 – (an excellent look at the technique for musicians

de Alcantara P Alexander Technique: A Skill for Life Crowood Press 1999

Pierce Jones F Freedom to Change Mouritz, London, 1997

Westfeldt L F. Matthias Alexander: The Man and His Work Mouritz, London, 1998

Internet

There are a considerable number of good resources on the internet. The School for F.M. Alexander Studies web-site has links to many sites.

Contact details for David Moore: School for F.M. Alexander Studies, PO Box 2233, North Fitzroy, VIC 3068, Australia

Have you ever attempted to perform a simple act and completely failed? From completely mistiming a shot to losing balance at a crucial moment, the outcome may have fallen short of our intention and expectation. In contrast there are times when everything goes just right, every act is carried out to perfection with little perceived effort. Why should this be the case? If we are capable of achieving feats of brilliance one moment, why do we fail so comprehensively the next? What condition is present one moment and gone the next? Athletes refer to the later as 'The Zone ' and spend their lives trying to reach this subliminal level.

The elusiveness of the zone gives us a clue into its nature. Athletes experiencing these moments cannot explain how they came to be there, and report that the state is lost as soon as they become aware of being in it. From their observations it appears that 'being in the zone' involves integration of the conscious and unconscious aspects of movement, that is the voluntary decision to act and the reflex that facilitates the action. Becoming conscious of the moment seems to destroy it. A comparable situation is the act of falling asleep, as soon as we become aware we are about to fall asleep we interrupt the process. We cannot do anything to directly make ourselves fall asleep. All we can do is to stop doing what may be preventing the process. At an early age I learnt you do not fall asleep any quicker on Christmas Eve by closing you eyes tighter.

The zone is described in a paper titled: The Achievement Zone as: -

"... a special place where performance is exceptional and consistent, automatic and flowing. An athlete is able to ignore all the pressures and let his or her body deliver the performance that has been learned so well. Competition is fun and exciting. (Murphy, 1996)"

Sport Psychologist, Kenneth Ravizza, conducted one of the first studies into the zone in 1977 called: 'A subjective study of the athlete's greatest moment in sport'. He studied the experiences of twenty top athletes during their moments of glory and found that the experience was: - ... temporary and of relatively short duration; non-voluntary and not induced at will; and unique. He found that it required many years of practice before they could enter the zone. He defines the common characteristics of the experience as: -

"... focusing on the present moment, effortless merging of action and awareness, loss of personal ego, sense of control, clear feedback, and an intrinsic reward system."

A study conducted at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, questioned athletes from a number of sports about their experience in the zone. In a paper titled: 'The Zone : Evidence of A Universal Phenomenon for Athletes Across Sports', by Young and Pain (1999), the conclusion drawn was that regardless of the sport, athletes appear to experience the same 'heightened state of consciousness'. The participants used words such as "peak", "perfect moments", "mindfulness" and "flow" to describe their time in the zone.

The words "let", "flow" and "mindfulness" are not generally associated with effort and pushing to the limit. Could being in 'the zone' involve a state of non-interference with movement? A balanced state that promotes optimum integration of the postural reflexes, consciousness and appropriate use of learnt patterns. This could explain why it requires years of practice before the zone is experienced.

Unfortunately because we are unaware of how we interfere with the natural mechanisms, time spent in the zone is rare and brief. If we learn to first identify what it is we do to interfere, and then how to prevent it, we may increase our chances of making the zone.

One of the best methods to experience 'being in the moment' is The Alexander Technique, a much undervalued thought and movement system. Using these technique sports people regardless of ability can learn to develop awareness skills that can help identify performance-limiting habits. It is only once we have become conscious of these habits can we then start to change them. Athletes who have trained using The Alexander Technique include Matthew Pincent and his gold medal UK rowing crew at the Athens Olympics 2004.

For further information see www.artofperformance.co.uk

Roy Palmer is a teacher of The Alexander Technique and has studied performance enhancement in sport for the last 10 years. His new book 'Zone Mind, Zone Body' looks at how you can take your fitness and performance to a new level by doing less. This doesn't mean putting your feet up, it means learning to train smarter. More information about his unique approach to training can be found by clicking Peak Performance Training Program.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Roy_Palmer/4625

"Last March I was diagnosed by a GP as [having] tendonitis. I am an amateur musician and my day job puts me in front of a computer all day long so, I am in a couple high risk groups. A musician friend told me about the Alexander Technique, I got on the web ... and in three weeks I was at the five day course. I am at this point playing music as much as I like and am virtually free of symptoms. The Alexander Technique helps you to understand how you were misusing your self to cause the condition in the first place. This awareness will probably be different for each individual. Specifically it allows me to use a lot less tension while playing music, washing dishes, typing at the computer, and almost everywhere else. Because my arms are relaxed while I play I can play much better then before I got tendinitis. I can type faster. If I notice tension building in my arms, it is also building in my neck[1]

The Alexander Technique was formulated in Melbourne in the 1890s by a young Tasmanian actor named Frederick Matthias Alexander, to alleviate the chronic hoarseness that he had developed as a result of projecting his voice on stage. Having had medical tests that revealed no underlying pathology and advice and exercises from voice experts that had failed to help him, Alexander reasoned that he must be misusing himself in some way that created the irritation of his vocal folds. He thought that if he could discover what it was that he was doing wrong, and stop doing it, he would be able to correct his problem.

With the aid of mirrors Alexander soon discovered what he believed to be the cause. He saw that when he projected his voice, he also contracted his neck and pulled his head back, while at the same time jutting his chin forwards and thereby putting pressure on his larynx. Furthermore this tightening in the head and neck was echoed by contractions throughout his body, along with disordered breathing. He found that this pattern of use was so intensely associated with the projection of his voice that breaking this association was initially almost impossible. However, with time and persistence he was able to successfully change his posture and breathing, and subsequently his voice returned.

Alexander then went on to use the Techniques he had developed to work with other actors and professional voice users. Over time he became extremely skillful in guiding people away from their negative postural patterns, and the health benefits of his technique were quickly recognised, not just for vocal and breathing problems, but for all kinds of physical difficulties. Before long a number of doctors in Melbourne, and then Sydney when he moved there, were sending him patients.

A doctor friend advised that Alexander needed to establish himself at the "centre of the world" in order for his technique to be well known, so Alexander moved to London in 1904 where he built up a teaching practice, and his students included a number of leading actors, politicians, scientists, writers and doctors. In 1931 he set up the first school to train Alexander Technique teachers. Since his death in 1955 a large number of training courses have been established in many countries through out the world, and national societies have been set up affiliated to the original British society, The Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique.

Today Alexander Technique is well known in sports and performing arts circles as an effective way, not only to treat pain and injury, but to enhance performance. For most people it has a reputation as a form of "posture training", as well as being an efficacious treatment for back and neck problems and - perhaps most particularly - RSI.

Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)

The widespread use of computer keyboards has led to a growing awareness of a set of muscular-skeletal problems known generically as repetitive strain injury (RSI). This term is often used to cover a wide variety of syndromes including carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, bursitis, tenosynovitis, tendonitis, De Quervain's syndrome, thoracic outlet syndrome, myofascial pain syndrome, trigger finger/thumb and intersection syndrome. Symptoms include pain in the arms, wrists, elbows, hands neck or shoulders; heaviness, tingling, swelling or weakness in the arms hands or fingers; lack of coordination in the use of hands and fingers; bluish colour in the fingers and fluctuation of temperature in the hands. The onset of debilitating symptoms is frequently sudden, occurring after a period of intense work combined with stress; although, for most people, underlying discomfort would have been present for some time prior to this.

RSI is not a recent phenomenon. Historically people whose work involves repetitive movements, such as fish filleters, weavers and factory workers, have long been vulnerable. Musicians in particular tend to suffer from a wide range of symptoms and have done so for many centuries. In the past the The careers of many talented musicians have been aborted by injury.

However, as knowledge of RSI has become more prevalent, many people are aware that seeking treatment earlier, or ceasing certain aggravating activities, will avert total incapacitation. If people can learn to change their patterns when they experience mild discomfort, then they can normally manage to continue their work. However for those who reach the chronic stage, continuation of normal activity becomes impossible and the process of healing can take one to two years.

Using the Alexander Technique for RSI

Let's look at "Bill". He was both a guitarist and a web designer and when I first saw him he was suffering from almost all the symptoms I mentioned before. From past experience I knew that, having reached this stage, we would be looking at a period of about two years to overcome the problem. Initially the process was complicated by the conflicting advice Bill had received from his physiotherapist, as well as his own "common-sense" beliefs about what was required - that he needed to sit and stand "straight". He achieved this by pulling his shoulders back which effectively pulled his head back and narrowed his back, particularly between his shoulder blades.

This advice fitted in with his own faulty sensory perception and sense of what was right, whereas where I was guiding him felt completely wrong. As Alexander said in another situation "He gets what he feels is the right position, but that only means that he is getting the position which fits in with his defective coordination." The fact is that a pose of ease and balance is exactly what an RSI sufferer is unable to attain. They can either slump or "sit up straight", both of which will incoordinate discoordinate the body and aggravate the pain. What is required is a re-education of the sensory and motor cortex to establish the pathways for a healthy coordination of the body.

We began with lessons two or three times a week. Initially I did a fair amount of work with Bill, getting him to lie on the table to help undo the overall contraction. At this point I have to say that Alexander Technique work is quite unlike either massage or manipulation. It involves the teacher very gently helping the student to gain length and expansion throughout the body, beginning with an opening, lengthening and releasing of the neck and back. This needs to be done with care because, for people with severe RSI symptoms, opening too fast can easily aggravate symptoms. We also looked at coordinating the body when standing, sitting and walking. Eventually we moved on to include handling and playing a guitar, and sitting at a computer.

Concepts of Alexander Technique

In this article I will talk a lot about use, which in Alexander terms refers to the totality of our functioning, that is: the way we think, the way we move, our posture and our reactions. The way we use ourselves affects the way we function - in Alexander's case, the way he used his body, caused his loss of voice. If we misuse ourselves we create discomfort, pressure, pain or disease. Undoing faulty patterns of use allows the natural healing processes to work.

If a person's use of their body is faulty their breathing will also inevitably be faulty. In my experience people suffering from RSI almost always have habitual abdominal tension which restricts their breathing. This then promotes a pattern of shallow chest breathing punctuated by the occasional conscious deep breath. In Alexander work, the teacher is always aware of the student's breathing, but does not necessarily address this directly - if the abdominal tension and the associated pattern of misuse can be altered then the breathing will also change, without recourse to breathing exercises.

In Bill's case for example, his pattern of breathing was also seriously disturbed, as is always the case with faulty use. The breathing was mostly shallow chest breathing, but Bill frequently used conscious breathing to "relax", a breathing style that was just as problematical as his attempt to have a "straight" back.

One of the beliefs of Buteyko - whose breathing exercises have proved to be efficacious in the control of asthma - is that asthmatics "over breathe" and in doing so over-oxygenate the blood, and create an acidic system. This creates a predisposition, not only to the inflammation of the airways associated with asthma, but also to a large range of other disorders.

It is my hypothesis that the inflammatory condition that Bill was suffering from was aggravated by this faulty breathing. Certainly 95 per cent of the RSI sufferers I have worked with have had distinct abdominal contractions, preventing the full range of movement of the diaphragm and predisposing them to shallow chest breathing. The Alexander Technique differs from the Buteyko method in that faulty breathing is recognised as a symptom of faulty use, to be dealt with indirectly rather than by the practice of exercises.

One of the aims of the Alexander Technique is psychophysical unity. Alexander's initial belief when he treated himself was that he was suffering from a "physical" problem. However, his investigations soon led him to the conclusion that there was no such thing as a purely physical or purely mental problem. Even the simplest action of raising an arm relies on the interaction of the nervous system and muscles. Particular muscular or physical restrictions in the movement of the arm will be related to dysfunctional messages from the nervous system, related to faulty sensory perception.

Alexander was also interested in stimulus and response. He said, "You are not here to do exercises or to learn to do something right, but to be able to meet a stimulus that always puts you wrong and to learn to deal with it."[3] When he experienced voice problems, his response was to contract his whole body in a way that put the maximum amount of restriction in his vocal folds. Similarly, a writer faced with a deadline may respond by creating the maximum amount of psychological and physiological tension conducive to the creation of or aggravation of RSI. The way Alexander overcame this problem was to change the ingrained response to the stimulus. For example, it has been observed that in people with quite severe RSI, just the act of sitting down in front of a computer - without doing anything else - may be enough to set off their symptoms.

One of the primary features of the Alexander Technique is its emphasis on undoing, or inhibition. The gap between the stimulus and response is the critical moment of potential freedom from our habits; therefore learning to inhibit response is critical. Whilst most methods of dealing with voice problems, back pain or RSI depend on the practice of exercises to "strengthen or relax the muscles, the vocal mechanism or breathing, the Alexander Technique focuses on undoing the set of mind and muscles in response to a stimulus to act.

"The belief is very generally held that if only we are told what to do in order to correct the wrong way of doing something, we can do it, and that if we feel we are doing it all is well. All my experience, however, goes to show this belief is a delusion"[4] Faulty use is invariably associated with compromised functioning and faulty sensory perception - the inability to sense accurately what one is doing with oneself. It is the universal experience of Alexander teachers that when they manually guide many of their students into what is a more coordinated posture or movement that the students feel completely wrong - quite out of alignment. This has important consequences if such students undergo a series of "corrective" exercises to try to overcome their problems. If these exercises are carried out in correlation with their faulty sensory perception they are just as likely to reinforce the faulty patterns of movement that have caused the problem in the first place. Even if they do relieve the problem to some extent, they may well set the exerciser up for other problems.

Alexander Technique teachers work indirectly with their students. Their primary aim is not to cure particular symptoms, but rather to restore accurate sensory perception. Accurate sensory perception is essential for good coordination and good coordination is essential for overall functioning. In Alexander's case the restoration of good coordination not only resulted in the cessation of his voice problems but also of his long-standing respiratory ailments which he had suffered from since childhood.

"There is no such thing as a right position, but there is such a thing as a right direction."[5] Faulty sensory perception, and the consequent dysfunctional messages sent by the nervous system to the muscles can impact negatively on the functioning of the voice, breathing and musculo-skeletal system. These unconscious "directions" also relate to our overall stress pattern. In fact the bodies of people with musculo-skeletal problems are held in a chronic pattern of tension. Alexander often referred to this chronic pattern of tension as being a manifestation of "unduly excited fear reflexes." By observing himself in a mirror to see what might be affecting his voice, Alexander developed a series of conscious "directions" which would move his body out of its habitual pattern of contraction. These involved moving his head "forwards and up" rather than back and down, in a way that allowed his whole back to lengthen and widen whilst undoing any downwards pressure through the legs or shortening and narrowing the shoulders. It is impossible to satisfactorily explain these directions in writing. As Alexander said "I think them inadequate, but with a teacher present to demonstrate in person what he means by them they serve their purpose."[6]

In the process of regaining his voice Alexander found that the very thought of projecting his voice created the habitual tightening reaction. The more he tried to project his voice, the more he tightened. What he had to do instead was to take the focus off the end (projecting his voice) and instead attend to the means he was using. This involved inhibiting the habitual reaction and sending his conscious directions to the whole body to create the conditions for his voice to be free. The same principle is applied in all activities using the Alexander Technique.

Stefan

I applied these concepts to my work with "Stefan", a student of guitar, who had to give up the performance part of his course due to debilitating shoulder pain whilst playing. Unlike Bill, Stefan had not progressed to the point where the pain affected every other aspect of his life, but obviously the inability to continue with his course was a severe blow. In working with him we looked at guitar playing almost from the start. He exhibited considerable extra tension whilst playing, manifested by a collapsed torso, tight jaw and shoulders and restricted breathing. By the application of the Alexander directions first of all guided by a teacher, and then applying the directions himself not only did this extra tension dissipate, but a clearly audible improvement in the tone of the playing resulted.

Now, six months later and back at school, Stefan says: "Not only has the application of the technique dealt with my RSI, but my overall playing and technique is much improved. In particular the ability to express musically has much improved. I believe that the Alexander Technique should be an essential part of any musical training."

Alexander Technique Lessons: Treatment or Education?

The Alexander Technique rather uneasily straddles two different paradigms. Is it therapeutic or educational? Alexander refers to his area of expertise as being "therapeutics".[7] More frequently, however, he refers to his work as educational. Alexander explains the conditions necessary for the work to be successful. "There must be a clear realisation by the pupil that he suffers from a defect, or defects, needing eradication. In the second place, the teacher must make a lucid diagnosis of such defects and decide upon a means of dealing with them. In the third place there must be a satisfactory understanding between the teacher and pupil of the present conditions and the means proposed to remedy them."[8]

An Alexander teacher will guide the pupil with both verbal instruction and manual guidance, into a more effective manner of use. Often the movements will be common everyday ones like sitting, standing, bending and walking. The teacher will also look at activities the pupil may be having problems with, or wishes to refine and develop - whether they be vocalising, working at a computer, playing an instrument or swinging a golf club. Very frequently the way in which the pupil needs to move will seem to him or her completely wrong, due to the influence of faulty sensory perception. Gradually neural pathways will be developed to perform movements in a manner that was previously impossible and the pupil will develop the ability to take this learning into his or her everyday activities.

The Alexander Technique has no set of exercises to give people. In the beginning it is a matter of working out what people are doing that is interfering with optimal functioning and asking them to not do that. As such it poses a particular challenge to our normal way of approaching problems where we look to do something to make a change. The concept of non-doing for many people requires a major conceptual and behavioural shift.

"Beth" experienced a whiplash injury a year ago, and had suffered constant neck and shoulder pain since then, which was now associated with pain radiating down one arm when she worked on the computer, which she did for several hours a day with her job. She had undergone a considerable amount of physiotherapy and had begun a Pilates exercise program.

In the first lesson we looked at what Beth did with herself especially in sitting at a computer. We used a mirror so that she could compare what she felt she was doing with herself with what she was actually doing. Her attempt to sit correctly which she felt would be good for her was especially tense. When I guided her with my hands to let go of this tension she felt completely round-shouldered. However she could see in the mirror that she was not round-shouldered, and also she could feel that this "round shouldered" feeling was associated with a considerable lessening of the pain.

I saw Beth two weeks later. She had let go of much of the holding she was doing and had gone a little too far in the other direction, but her neck and shoulder pain was considerably less and there had been no further pain in her arm. We are now continuing with weekly lessons so that she can gradually develop a balanced way of using herself in all activities

Conclusion

The cases I have mentioned refer to people who have had good results from the Alexander Technique. This does not mean that I have been able to help every person who has come to me with RSI. The Alexander Technique is primarily aimed at re-education and, as these cases demonstrate, each student took an active part in their process of recovery. In severe cases I have worked with people for two or more years with gradual improvement, along with the odd relapse, before the problem has been overcome. What the technique can offer is a missing link which gives people the tools to work on themselves. In particular if people cannot sense accurately what they are doing with themselves then they cannot change what they are doing with themselves.

As in the case of many illnesses a case of RSI forces a person to confront what they are doing with themselves on many different levels. The use of oneself relates not only to the physical movement and postural sets but also to the accompanying psychological and emotional patterns. People who are not happy at the work they are doing are less likely to improve. Musicians who have put many years into honing their skills, and those doing work which they enjoy, are frequently highly motivated to be able to continue the work they love. In the case of people doing work they are unhappy with, a change of occupation may be the largest single factor in overcoming RSI (not to mention a whole range of other disorders.) Mental attitude is a crucial variable and in some cases psychotherapy may be a useful or even essential adjunct along with the Alexander work.

People coming to Alexander Technique to recover from RSI or other conditions will often find a whole new universe opening up to them. As the two musicians above have indicated, not only was their RSI dealt with, but their playing also improved. Learning Alexander technique allows people to gain a whole new area of awareness, and gives them more scope and flexibility in every area of their lives.

For Information on research and scientific aspects of the Alexander Technique Scientific Research: this is a far from complete overview of scientific research on the Alexander Technique

Mouritz Archives of articles and papers on the Alexander technique between 1923 and 1960 contains many letters and some articles for the British Medical Journal and many other medical publications.

The Lost Sixth Sense: A medical scientist looks at the Alexander technique. Dr David Garlick. 1990 Dr Garlick at the University of NSW has done a good deal of research on the physiological aspects of the Alexander Technique. He has also published a series of articles in Direction, an international magazine of the Alexander Technique.

Recommended Reading

Alexander, FM Use of the Self, Orion, London, 1932.

De Alcantara, P Indirect Procedures: A Musician's Guide to the Alexander Technique Oxford University Press, Oxford 1997

Barlow, W Alexander Principle Orion, London 1973

Garlick, D Lost Sixth Sense Laboratory for Musculoskeletal and Muscloskeletal and Postural Research, School for Physiology and Pharmacology, University of NSW, Sydney 1990

Gelb, M Body Learning, Aurum Press, London 1981

Pierce Jones, F Freedom to Change, Mouritz, London, 1976.

Westfeldt, L F. Matthias Alexander: The Man and his Work Mouritz, London 1998

[1] Quoted from alextech-list@alextech.net. First Person experience: Alan

This is an email posted on an Alexander technique email list in September 2001 in answer to a question about tendinitis, which gives a very good picture of the development of and different approaches to RSI along with the place of the Alexander technique in an intelligent approach to dealing with the problem. Alan's experience of his musicianship actually improving as a result of Alexander lessons is a very common one

[2] Alexander, FM, Articles and Lectures, Mouritz, 1995, p. 101.

[3] ibid., p. 203.

[4] Alexander, FM, The Use of the Self, Orion, London, 1932, p. 33.

[5] ibid., p. 194.

[6] Alexander, FM, Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual, Gollancz. London 1987 p. 108.

[7] Alexander, FM, Man's Supreme Inheritance, Mouritz, London 1957 p. 53.

[8] ibid., p. 55.

Abstract of Presentation to Society of Clinical Masseurs: Melbourne 2000

Tuesday 19th July 2000

Despite its reputation as a way of dealing with musculo-skeletal problems, the Alexander technique had its origin in Melbourne over 100 years ago, when a talented your actor, F. Matthias Alexander, began to develop voice problems associated with projecting his voice to large audiences.

This work is based on the premise that they way we use ourselves affects the way we function. Change the use and we change the functioning ( in Alexander's case the immediate problem was the functioning of his voice.) Use is a technical term we use in this work to denote an overall pattern of posture and tension and the manner in which we respond to stimuli (in Alexander's case, the stimulus to project his voice.) It refers to neither mind nor body exclusively - an act as simple as moving an arm depends on thought, intention and motivation as well as the physical action of the muscles involved. What we are dealing with in this work is a psycho-physical pattern of movement and reaction. In Alexander’s case, by changing his pattern of use he was not only able to fully rid himself of his voice problem, but also of a number of other ailments which had afflicted him for many years.

I demonstrated the relationship between use & function at the presentation by working with several audience members who were restricted in turning their heads. Giving them gentle guidance with my hands in repositioning their heads and bodies, there was in all cases a clear increase in the range & comfort of movement from one moment to the next. I then worked with other members of the audience in sitting, standing walking and massaging. I then answered questions, a couple of which I reproduce below.

What were you doing with your hands to get the change in movement & posture which we observed?

The feedback we got from those I had worked on was that my touch was very light – more a sense of guidance than manipulation. In working with a person we are always coming back to their overall coordination, rather than attempting to go to a problem area. If we can help a person change their pattern of use, they will be able to take the pressure off the problem area (like Alexander’s voice, a bad back etc. In removing the pressure we set up the environment for healing. In this process our student is an active participant.

What is the training to be an Alexander teacher?

Training of teachers is over 1600 hours over 3 years with a maximum teacher to trainee ratio of 1:5. The focus of this training is on how trainees use themselves, for the quality of their own use is transmitted in the hands. It is therefore very much a process of personal growth & development for the trainees. Many hours of practice at using hands in a very delicate manner constitute an essential part of the training. In Australia all training schools are approved by our professional body the Australian Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (AUSTAT), which is affiliated with other national societies.